Not Guilty Rape X3 Harrow Crown Court 2023

Mr A, a man of good character, was represented by counsel and found not guilty by the jury of the rape of two women in 2015, following a trial lasting six days.

After a night out where everyone had been drinking, Mr A was invited back to the flat of one of the women. On his account, he had enjoyed a consensual threesome in which the women actively participated. On their accounts, he had had sex with them whilst they were asleep or otherwise incapable of consent. One of the women said that she had woken up to find him penetrating her, the other said she only realised that she had had sex at all when the other woman said to her in the morning that she had herself been raped in the night. He gave a full denial account in an interview, telling the police that the women had flirted with him in a club, at a bus stop, and on the night bus back to the flat before consenting to sex by active participation, although he accepted there had been no discussion about consent.  

The women were from another country and one had returned home immediately afterwards. It had taken the police and CPS seven years to investigate and charge him, in part because of the difficulties in liaising with the authorities abroad. CCTV from the club, the bus stop, and the bus had either been wiped, or was not identified by the police. By the time of trial, there were no witnesses that Mr A could call to support his version of events and he understandably found it difficult to remember all of the details of the night in question and exactly what he had said in interview. We thoroughly prepared our client's case for trial. After careful consideration of the evidence as requested in counsel’s forceful closing speech, the jury returned not guilty verdicts.