A NEW investigation has been launched into rape charge jockey Pierre-Charles Boudot after cops allegedly found an indecent video of a child on his phone.
A French prosecutor confirmed a preliminary probe has been opened into the three-time champion jockey, 28, after three of his phones were seized and searched, reported Le Parisien and France TV Info.
Public prosecutor Jean-Baptiste Bladier said: “A preliminary investigation has been opened following the discovery of a file containing a video presenting a child of pornographic nature.”
French news agency AFP report an expert on the case said ‘images of a sexual or pornographic nature’ were allegedly found on Boudot’s phones.
And it is further reported that ‘some of these images are likely to present minors’.
Asked about the findings, Boudot’s lawyer, Florence Gaudilliere, said: “My client has been the victim of a hack into his Facebook account.”
Boudot was charged with rape earlier this month – a claim he denies.
Boudot and fellow rider Pierre Bazire were placed in custody with Chantilly police.
A 25-year-old woman has accused Boudot of raping her at a party held in Cagnes-sur-Mer in February this year.
The allegation first came to light in March and Boudot’s lawyer claimed the jockey, a former Arc de Triomphe winner, had been the target of ‘threats’ for a year.
The complainant’s lawyer, Justine Devred, said: “My client, a 25-year-old woman working in the equestrian world in Chantilly, went to a party.
“It is very likely that she was made to drink or inoculated products to annihilate her consent.
“She has flashes, big holes, times when her body was no longer responding.
“She had filed a first complaint which she had withdrawn.
“Finally she filed a complaint again after questioning the investigators.”
Boudot, who has been banned from racing for three months by French racing’s governing body, strongly denied another rape allegation in January last year.
The allegation was made in October 2018 and dated back to August 2015.
Boudot has won the French Jockeys’ Premiership three times – in 2015, 2016 and 2020 – and is regarded as one of the world’s top riders.
