POLICE probing an alleged gang rape by seven Premiership stars yesterday cordoned off an entire floor of the hotel at the centre of the claims.
Officers conducted forensic tests on the king-size third floor room where a 17-year-old girl says she was attacked by the footballers.
And colleagues seized a video of CCTV footage from the five-star hotel in London’s West End for analysis by experts.
Meanwhile cops from the Met’s Operation Sapphire specialist sex offences unit coaxed the tearful teenager into giving her version of the weekend’s events.
The girl — who had met the stars at a bar — claims the seven players joined in a mass rape after she agreed to consensual sex with an eighth footballer, who plays for a different club.
She made the astonishing complaint 16 hours later at Marylebone Police Station in Central London.
Several of the stars are household names and one is a regular international.
None can be identified for legal reasons, but all face lengthy jail terms if convicted.
The Sun broke news of the startling allegations yesterday. And last night extra officers were brought into the top hotel to guard the room.
Six uniformed officers were on duty outside as forensic experts continued their fingertip search.
Detectives interviewed hotel staff who were on duty over the weekend, including a room service waitress who is believed to have taken a tray of drinks up to the stars.
Earlier, four cops had stood guard in the corridor, restricting access to hotel guests only.
Two plain clothes detectives stood close to the open room. Beside them on the floor were two plastic bags with “evidence” written across them.
When one of the officers was asked what was going on, he said: “I’m sorry, I’m not allowed to say.”
CCTV pictures taken in the hotel, which has security cameras in reception and on most floors, may also prove vital in the police inquiry, it was claimed last night.
The hotel’s own in-house security firm is co-operating fully with police.
A hotel source said: “The police asked to examine CCTV footage crucial in establishing what happened.
“A forensic team have been back into the room, which has been sealed off. Two women forensic scientists were carrying what looked like tape used for collecting fingerprints.
“Police gave every impression they were taking this very seriously indeed.”
Police sources said the alleged victim, who also claims she was subjected to an unnatural sex act, completed a detailed statement yesterday afternoon.
She has undergone a medical examination at a rape counselling suite and will take an HIV test.
Evidence found so far will be assessed today at a case conference involving Crown Prosecution Service officials.
More details emerged yesterday of the events prior to the alleged incident.
The seven players from one team met with the eighth Premiership star for a night out after a game.
The group are understood to have met the girl at the bar of another London hotel and gone on to a club before adjourning to the hotel where they had booked a number of rooms.
The teenager claims she was brutally attacked at the hotel.
One player is understood to have booked a number of the rooms in his name.
Police, alerted the following day, realised they would have trouble establishing which room each player stayed in. But officers hit on a clever ruse to identify each one.
The hotel manager agreed to de-activate the hi-tech key card entry system on each of the rooms — locking the players out when they sought to get back in.
They were then forced to re-register in their own names to obtain a replacement room card, telling police who stayed where.
None of the players were aware police had been alerted when they checked out of the hotel and had no idea an investigation was already under way.
Officers swept all of their rooms soon after they left by taxi.
Yesterday onlookers told how the stars behaved like yobs in the bar of their five-star hotel before the alleged sex attack.
One was said to have screwed up a £20 note and thrown it over the bar as he jeered: “Here’s double your wages.”
Another worker at the £190-a-night hotel was allegedly told by a player: “I earn more in a week than you do in three years.”
One staff source said: “They gave the impression that they had so much money they could say and do whatever they pleased and upset whoever they liked. But bar staff who had to serve them found themselves struggling to control their tempers. One male barman said he was at the point of punching them at one stage.”
Yesterday the footballers at the centre of the allegations were in high spirits as they reported for training.
They laughed and skylarked with each other, despite the arrival of journalists attracted by rumours of the alleged rapists’ identities.
One onlooker said: “They looked like they hadn’t a care in the world.”
However, bosses at the stars’ club were locked in crisis talks.
The chairman, who rarely attends coaching sessions, was at the training ground before players arrived.
After meeting with other club officials for about an hour he left and the first team squad were put through their normal Monday morning paces.
The players and manager later refused to comment as they left the training ground.
One of the players rumoured to be at the centre of the alleged incident was driven to the club’s stadium for a brief meeting.
Asked to comment on the rumours, he said only: “Nice one.” It is understood he denies all involvement.
A friend of the player said: “He has a cast-iron alibi.”
A police spokesman last night stressed the claims were only allegations which were at a very early stage of investigation.
He said a decision could be made as to whether to take matters any further “in due course”.
pics of the players:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2003450823,00.html