UK: Grad student cleared of rape in changed-mind case

Article here. Excerpt:

'A graduate wept as he was cleared of raping a university student who 'changed her mind' during a drunken one-night stand.

Lewis Tappenden, 24, was 'pulled' by the 18-year-old first year on a night out and taken back to her student accommodation for sex.

But the York St John University scholar changed her mind halfway through and later accused him of rape, a court heard.

A jury took less than two hours to clear Mr Tappenden after a five day trial at York Crown Court, and the ordeal left him 'feeling suicidal'.

Outside court his father Rob Tappenden, 51, said: 'We are not happy, it's not a celebration, it's not a victory.

'We have not won anything. We have lost 18 months of our lives really. I never doubted Lewis, but we've had this cloud over us.'
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The defendant, who broke down in tears at the not guilty verdicts, is currently working in a bar in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.'

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