A JUDGE has dismissed a rape case in which an Orford man was accused of spiking a woman’s drink.

Matthew Walters of Grasmere Avenue has spent nearly six months in custody after he was accused of raping a woman at his former home on Gerrard Avenue, Dallam on June 7.

The 40-year-old was cleared of all charges in a trial at Warrington Crown Court on Wednesday December 2 when Recorder John Benson QC dismissed the case, saying that the prosecution’s evidence was ‘unsatisfactory and contradictory’.

On June 6, the complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, returned home from work in the early evening and had a night in with her long term partner.

At 3am she began messaging the defendant, who he had never met before although the pair had been friends on Facebook for a number of months.

The pair met at the Maltings in Old Hall at around 6.15am and went back to the defendant's flat – a number of accounts were given of what happened next.

Mr Walters claimed the couple had sex consensually, but the woman accused him of raping her after spiking her drink – although she gave several different versions of the events.

She said that Mr Walters had poured her a glass of lager and felt ‘dizzy and weird’ after drinking it.

In one account, the woman said the she woke to find the defendant raping her and scratched him on the neck and back to stop him.

In another she claimed that she had blacked out and woke up naked next to Mr Walters who said they’d had sex, and the woman ran out of the house.

She went to a nearby shop and told the shopkeeper she’d been raped – the shopkeeper called the police and Mr Walters was arrested at 11.13am.

The woman had told the shopkeeper that she had been raped in the back of Gerrard Avenue.

In an interview the woman said she wouldn’t have gone to meet Mr Walters if she knew he was attracted to her, but this was contradicted by several text messages sent by the defendant.

She also claimed that Mr Walters had asked her to come round, but the complainant made first contact and suggested meeting up that night.

A pint glass and its contents were recovered from Mr Walters’ flat and toxicology reports found no contaminant, and no evidence was found in the complainants’ blood or urine samples.

The judge dismissed the case against Mr Walters and said the woman’s accounts were ‘wholly at odds’ with each other.

Recorder Benson believed that the woman had reflected on her long term relationship and panicked, inventing the rape claim to cover her infidelity.

He added: “This is a serious case and I’ve reached the conclusion that the evidence is unsatisfactory and contradictory and no jury could convict.”