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Three years after serving a prison sentence for rape, former Worcestershire all-rounder Alex Hepburn has been prohibited by the Cricket Discipline Commission from participating in ECB events for ten years.
Hepburn was accused by the Cricket Regulator of violating ECB Directive 3.3 twice earlier this year. The first included his conviction in 2019; he was freed in October 2021 after serving two years of a five-year sentence for this offence; the second concerned his involvement in a misogynistic Whatsapp group in 2017 while he was playing for Worcestershire.
Since the circumstances of his arrest in April 2017 became public, Hepburn, who is now 28 years old, has not played professionally. Hepburn was found to have “dehumanised” women throughout his four-day trial by grading them in text messages to his teammates as part of a “sexual conquest competition.”
He was later found guilty of one count of oral rape following an attack in the flat he shared with Joe Clarke, his former teammate, about which the victim had initially thought she was having sex. In September2020, he filed an appeal against the conviction, but it was denied.
The Cricket Regulator was only able to notify Hepburn of the charge earlier this year because to his lengthy prison sentence; nonetheless, his suspension has been retroactively applied to October 30, 2021, the day of his release. It is considered that the two-year suspension related to the second charge has already been served.
A statement from the Cricket Regulator added: “Mr Hepburn failed to respond to the charge letter and related communication. As such, the CDC panel reached its decision in his absence. Mr Hepburn has not appealed the CDC panel’s decision.”
Before being allowed to play, coach, or engage in any other cricket-related activity under the ECB’s jurisdiction, Hepburn will also need to undergo “appropriate professional treatment” for the issues that led to his criminal conviction, as well as appropriate training and education courses.
As part of his conviction, he has also been listed as a sexual offender for life on the sex offenders register.