Woman raped by Australian cricketer Alex Hepburn reveals her face was left paralysed in attack

Hepburn, 23, was jailed for five years for orally raping the 21-year-old woman as part of a “pathetic sexist game to collect as many sexual encounters as possible”.

But it has since been revealed the Australian-born former Worcestershire CCC all-rounder will be held in HMP Littlehey — which boasts extensive grass and all-weather pitches, The Sun reports.

The news comes as his victim revealed how the trauma of the ordeal sparked a medical condition that left her face paralysed.

The university graduate was left with a frozen face, which was feared to be a stroke, after Hepburn attacked her.

The victim, whose identity is being protected, went through the ordeal of giving evidence twice after a jury didn’t reach a verdict earlier this year.

Hepburn was given five years at the retrial, which he is now appealing.

Judge Tim Tindal told him he had treated his victim “like a piece of meat” and the “game” on WhatsApp showed his “foul sexism” and “demeaned women and trivialised rape”.

The victim, also 23, told The Sunday Mirror how she was rushed to the hospital with a suspected stroke four months after she was attacked.

Doctors told her she had a stress-induced condition that temporarily paralyses facial muscles called Bell’s Palsy.

She said: “They said after everything I’d been through my body was shutting down.

“As the day went on my eye dropped and the side of my face froze. It took months to go back to normal.

“I had to drink through a straw. It stopped me working. I didn’t want to leave home.”