Former UKFast founder and CEO found guilty of rape in Manchester court

Following allegations of raping two women, Lawrence Jones was found guilty in court today

Ex-UKFast founder and CEO Lawrence Jones was found guilty of drugging and raping two women, as reported in the Manchester Evening News.

Jones, founder of Manchester-based managed hosting, cloud services, and co-location provider, was accused of assaulting two women in hotel rooms in the 1990s when he was working as a piano player in Manchester pubs and hotels.

He denied the allegations, but a jury unanimously convicted him on two counts of rape after a three-week trial.

The 55-year-old, who was made an MBE in 2015, will face sentencing on 1 December.

In October 2019, a Financial Times article accused Jones of sexual assault and harassment.

Jones denied all the allegations, but announced he would leave his role as CEO of the business he had founded more than 20 years ago with his wife Gail Jones.

Reports at the time claimed he was pressured to leave by private equity investor Inflexion which owned a 30 per cent stake into the business.

Gail Jones took over his responsibilities, but on 6 May 2020 the Jones exited the business through a sale to existing PE investor Inflexion.

UKFast nw trades as ANS since June 2022, when UKFast.Net Limited and ANS Group Limited, which are both controlled by Inflexion, merged under one name.