Lucy Spraggan says Rylan guarded room for evidence after she was raped by porter
Lucy Spraggan has praised "incredible" Rylan Clark for being a "pivotal" part of convicting her attacker after she was raped by a hotel worker during her time on The X Factor.
The musician was raped by former hotel porter Soby John after a night celebrating fellow contestant Rylan's 25th birthday at the Mayfair nightclub Mahiki, which was attended by The X Factor crew.
She and Rylan were staying at the Hilton London Metropole when the ordeal happened, while she was filming for the X Factor in 2012.
The singer detailed the harrowing experience in her new memoir, Process: Finding My Way Through, as well as on the How To Fail With Elizabeth Day podcast.
Lucy Spraggan has praised 'incredible' Rylan Clark for being a 'pivotal' part of convicting her rapist (ITV)Speaking on Wednesday's Lorraine, Lucy, 32, praised "amazing" Rylan as she revealed she had learnt new information earlier this week, which played a "pivotal" part of convicting her rapist.
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Lucy told guest host Christine Lampard: "I'm learning more and more since I released the book, I'm actually learning more and more about the realities of what happened. People are telling me new bits of information here and there.
"Rylan was incredible, he was the first person I told, he organised everything. He contacted the police, he was amazing, and very recently, earlier this week, I found out that he literally went and guarded the room so that nobody could change the room so that evidence would stay where it was.
"I only learnt this week that Rylan was an absolute pivotal part of there being a conviction."
Lucy's rapist, who was 24 at the time, snuck into the then-20-year-old singer's hotel room while she slept using a staff key card and attacked her.
She explained that she passed out and was taken back to the hotel by a member of the production team, where a hotel porter offered to help get Lucy to her room.
Rylan and Lucy have remained friends (Anthony Harvey/REX/Shutterstock)
The X Factor star Lucy has candidly opened up about her rape ordeal (Getty Images)The porter then flipped the security latch on her door as they left to prevent it from locking behind them.
Rylan, who recently shared a heartfelt message to Lucy, later went to check on her and made sure her door was locked before he left. The porter returned later to attack her and had to use a traceable keycard due to the door then being locked.
Lucy's attacker was arrested and later jailed for 10 years in April 2013. According to MailOnline, he was sent back to India on January 30, 2017.
A spokesperson for Freemantle, which is the company that produced X Factor, also released a statement.
"The serious sexual assault suffered by Lucy Spraggan in October 2012 was a truly horrific criminal act for which the perpetrator, who was not connected with the programme, was rightfully prosecuted and imprisoned. Anyone should feel safe when they are sleeping in a hotel room - and it is abhorrent to think that a hotel porter abused that trust in such a vile way," they said.
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"To our knowledge, the assault was an event without precedent in the UK television industry. Whilst we believed throughout that we were doing our best to support Lucy in the aftermath of the ordeal, as Lucy thinks we could have done more, we must therefore recognise this. For everything Lucy has suffered, we are extremely sorry.
"Since then, we have done our very best to learn lessons from these events and improve our aftercare processes. Whilst we have worked hard to try and protect Lucy's lifetime right to anonymity, we applaud her strength and bravery now that she has chosen to waive that right."
* If you've been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or by calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999
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