Chef accused of raping a woman he met a few hours earlier in the Southport Casino has been been cleared

by
18th November 2016

Chef accused of raping a woman he met a few hours earlier in the Southport Casino has been been cleared

A young chef accused of raping a woman he met a few hours earlier in the Southport Casino has been cleared.

A jury took just 27 minutes to find Adam Clifford not guilty of three rape offences and he was discharged from the dock.

Delighted relatives and friends of Clifford hugged him outside the courtroom after the unanimous verdicts of the jury of six women and six men.

24-year-old Clifford had told the court, during the four day trial, that everything sexual that happened between him and the girl at her friend’s home that night had been with her consent.

The alleged victim, who was then 19, admitted that they had consensual sexual intercourse but maintained that after she saw him apparently using his mobile phone while she was performing a sex act on him she no longer felt comfortable and did not agree to what then happened.

It was claimed that he ignored her protests and “would not take ‘no’ for a answer” and raped her in three different ways.

Clifford, of Montagu Road, Formby,  pleaded not guilty to the allegations which allegedly occurred on August 26 last year.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that he met the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, after going out with two friends. She was also with two friends and after a couple of drinks they all walked round to Bar Humbug.

When they left Clifford said he intended getting a taxi home but while waiting for a cab one of the girl’s friends invited him and one of his friends back to her home and the foursome travelled there together.

After the girls ate takeaway food they had bought after leaving the bar the alleged victim’s friend suggested they all go upstairs and he followed them up. He helped make the bed and after kissing her he and the alleged victim undressed each other.

“I said, ‘shall we’ and she said yes” and we had intercourse,” he told the jury.

He said that he began texting his friend who was in the adjacent bedroom with the other girl and whom he knew had to leave early to go on a training course later that day.

He told the jury that he then asked the girl, “do you want to try different positions” and she agreed and they tried different ones.

He said that afterwards the girl got up to go to the toilet and his friend then came into the room and asked “what’s happened?” and I said, ‘I don’t know, what are you on about?”

His friend suggested they should leave and he got dressed and on the landing met the other girl him who asked why her friend was upset.

“I said, ‘sorry, I don’t know why she’s crying’.”

He asked if he could talk to her but her friend said they should leave. After going downstairs her friend then said to him, “That’s rape, how could you do that?’

“I was in shock, I didn’t know what she was saying, I couldn’t understand where this was coming from,” said Clifford.

His friend phoned a cab and they went to their respective homes and police arrived at his house about 11.40 am that morning.”I had no idea what was going on,” he said.

 

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