Former Commonwealth Games swimmer cleared of raping woman

A Commonwealth Games swimmer has been found not guilty of raping a woman who claimed he forced himself on her shortly after she had consensual sex with his friend, another top swimmer.

Otto Putland, 24, who represented Wales at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, denied raping the woman after a night out in July 2015 and was acquitted by a jury of seven women and five men at Cardiff Crown Court on Tuesday.

After hearing the verdict, Judge Jeremy Jenkins told Putland he was "free to leave" and thanked the jurors for the "care and attention" they had given the case.

The woman, who first came forward in November 2016, said she went home with Olympic swimmer Ieuan Lloyd after meeting him in a club and had consensual sex with him.

She said when Putland came in to the room and sat on the bed after Lloyd left, she made it clear she did not want to have sex again, telling him they could not "pass her around", saying "no" and turning her head away.

Putland denied her claims and said the woman had been "very friendly and happy and flirtatious" while they were chatting after he had been introduced to her by Lloyd.

He said it was her demeanor which led to him kissing her, her returning his kisses, and then to consensual sex and that the woman did nothing to make him think she was not consenting.

In his closing speech, Christopher Rees, for the defence, reminded jurors this was not a "court of morals".

He said: "Bad sex is not rape. Sex after one party has persuaded the other to have sex consensually is not rape.

"Regretted sex is not rape."

Mr Rees said there had been "glaring inconsistencies" in what the woman told people at various times about the night.

"She had the opportunity to say 'no' and she did not say anything," he said.

"She did not stop it. She did not call out to Ieuan Lloyd. She did not call out to anyone at all. From that you can infer that she did consent, or may have consented."