Managers face quiz over 'football rape'
Detectives investigating the football gang rape claims are to interview several Premiership managers and directors.
They will be questioned over any information they have on the behaviour of the players on the night in question.
The senior figures, including one manager who is a household name, are known to have to angrily confronted some of the players demanding answers to the allegations.
Police want to question them about what the players said. The information could form a key part of the police inquiry.
The move comes as one of the footballers at the centre of the allegations claimed today he was in bed with another woman at the time of the alleged attack last Saturday night at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane. He is thought to be a suspect because he had booked a room there.
The woman who the suspect was with is said to be willing to provide him with an alibi. Witnesses said the couple had gone to dinner at Sketch restaurant in Conduit Street until about 2.45am and then went straight back to their hotel room.
A source close to the footballer said: "They didn't emerge until mid-afternoon the next day. In that time they never even left the room."
He and the other players under investigation are expected to be interviewed by police in coming days. However, detectives from the Met's specialist Operation Sapphire team which investigates sex assaults are determined to carry out a thorough investigation and say they will not be rushed.
Officers are expected to wait for the results of forensic tests on items taken from the £400 hotel suite at the Grosvenor where the alleged rape took place before conducting interviews.
Police are still examining CCTV pictures from the hotel and are also expected to liaise with other forces to look into the past behaviour of some players.
The 17-year-old alleged victim claims she consented to sex with one player but was then attacked by others at the five-star hotel.
The sixth-former at a Catholic school has told police she agreed to go to bed with one of the players, but while they were having sex, seven others walked in and some took turns to rape her.
Meanwhile, there is increasing concern at the way the rape suspects are being named on the internet. Police and Premiership officials are worried that they are circulated so widely that the players could be named by the crowd on live TV coverage of matches.
