Woman seeks £100,000 after ‘not proven’ rape verdict

A FORMER University of St Andrews student is to be sued over a rape conviction after his case was found “not proven” in the criminal court.

Stephen Coxen, 23, was charged with raping a fellow student at her flat during freshers’ week at the university in 2013.

He denied the charges and the jury found the case against him not proven – a Scottish verdict which allows juries to acquit the accused person while stopping short of finding them “not guilty”.

Now the anonymous woman, known as Miss M, is pursuing a civil case, seeking £100,000 in damages.

Figures show that almost half of those accused of rape in Scottish courts and one in three defendants accused of sexual assault were acquitted in 201516, the highest proportions of any crime type.

Last year the Scottish government announced a review into how juries reach verdicts, including the not proven verdict.

The case follows a successful action for rape brought against David Goodwillie and David Robertson, two Scottish footballers. A woman who alleged they had raped her in a west Lothian flat was awarded £100,000 damages despite the Crown Office deciding against bringing a prosecution.

Stuart Munro, a solicitor on the criminal law committee at the Law Society Scotland, said a “not proven” verdict in a criminal case would not necessarily have any bearing on the outcome of a later civil case.