MY 15 MONTHS OF ABSOLUTE HELL

Tears as jury clears Durham student of rape charge in less than three hours

A STUDENT cleared of raping a fellow undergraduate last night said he and his family had been put through ‘15 months of absolute hell’.

Louis Richardson, 21, bowed his head in relief, while his family held hands and sobbed in the public gallery, after the jury delivered unanimous not guilty verdicts at Durham Crown Court yesterday.

Mr Richardson, the former secretary of Durham University’s debating society, rushed into the arms of his mother, Judy. The student’s bank manager father Simon and grandfather Edwin had also sat through the week-long trial.

When asked for his immediate reaction, Mr Richardson said: ‘I just want to let it all sink in.’ But in a joint statement a few minutes later, the family said: ‘It has been 15 months of absolute hell for the whole family. We are relieved that justice has been done and would like to thank the jury.’

The history student was suspended from the university after details of the allegations emerged, and he has been unable to graduate. He moved back in with his parents in St Helier, Jersey, and took up voluntary work.

Prosecutors are likely to face questions as to why the case was ever brought to trial, after the jury needed just two hours and 40 minutes to reach their verdicts on separate charges relating to two young women, who were not known to each other.

James Conté from the website accused. me.uk, which supports victims of false allegations, said: ‘Our hearts go out to Louis. If you search for Louis’s name now, despite his not guilty verdict, all you will find on the internet is this disgusting allegation about him. On the other hand, his accuser is given life-long anonymity by law. Why not him?’

Mr Richardson was accused of raping a woman at his student house in March 2014 when she was ‘crazy drunk’ and unresponsive, but his defence team were fierce in their dismissal of the claims.

Philippa McAtasney QC branded the complainant a ‘highly manipulative, dishonest, dangerous young woman’.

She told the jury that the woman continued to have a sexual relationship with Mr Richardson after the alleged event.

The complainant, a law student, told the court she was very attracted to Mr Richardson. While putting on a confident front to make people like her, she said she felt inferior to Mr Richardson and was in awe of him.

It was only later, she said, that she considered the encounter to have been rape. Mr Richardson was arrested in October 2014.

The woman also alleged Mr Richardson sexually assaulted her at a party in May 2014 by exposing her bra, saying ‘Get your t*** out.’ Miss McAtasney told the jury her articulate client would not use such language.

‘You may think he has a somewhat unique style for a young man of his age – a flowery style, verbose, quite posh you may think. He is not on trial for that.’ Mr Richardson was also cleared of an allegation of assaulting a different woman at a house party.

‘Our hearts go out to Louis’