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Met Police officer cleared of raping woman he met at bar while off-duty

Jurors at Inner London Crown Court cleared Pc Rupert Edwards, 30, of allegedly raping the woman in Epsom, Surrey, on August 26 2022.

Luke O'Reilly
Wednesday 11 October 2023 10:59 EDT
Metropolitan Police officer Rupert Edwards was cleared of raping a woman in August 2022 (Elizabeth Cook/PA)
Metropolitan Police officer Rupert Edwards was cleared of raping a woman in August 2022 (Elizabeth Cook/PA) (PA Archive)

A serving Metropolitan Police officer has been found not guilty of raping a woman he met at a bar while off-duty.

Jurors at Inner London Crown Court cleared Pc Rupert Edwards, 30, of raping the woman in Epsom, Surrey, on August 26 2022.

However, the jury was unable to return a verdict on a second count of rape, relating to a different woman whom Edwards met at a bar on September 5 2022.

Edwards wept in the dock as the juryā€™s verdict was returned following eight hours and 22 minutes of deliberation.

In a prepared statement given to police, Edwards said all sexual activity with the first claimant was consensual and at no point did she indicate that she was not consenting, the court previously heard.

Edwards told police the second complainant never said she did not want sexual intercourse without contraception, and that they engaged in consensual sexual activity.

Prosecutor Robert Brown previously told the court that the first complainant met Edwards on a night out and danced with him, before ā€œkissing the defendant, who she found attractiveā€ at a bar.

They later got a cab back to her home and had consensual sex ā€œat least once, possibly twiceā€.

The complainant claimed she later told him ā€œI canā€™t go againā€ but the defendant pulled her leg up and initiated further sexual intercourse, Mr Brown said.

Asked if the woman told him she did not want to have sex again because she was ā€œtired and soreā€, Edwards told the court: ā€œI do not agree with thatā€.

The second complainant recalled engaging in consensual sex with Edwards in Lambeth, south London, but ā€œtold him from the outset there could be no intercourseā€ because they did not have any condoms.

The woman said Edwards agreed to this but she was later awoken when he raped her, jurors heard.

The prosecutor said: ā€œIsnā€™t the truth that she said you couldnā€™t have sex because she had no condoms?ā€ Edwards replied: ā€œNoā€.

When pressed by Mr Brown, the suspended Pc said: ā€œAt no point was she asleep [during sex].ā€

Edwards said the woman had been a ā€œsimilar level of drunkā€ to him, adding he was ā€œshocked and surprisedā€ to be arrested the next morning.

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