Builder cleared of rape

Date published: 23 October 2014


AN Oldham man who had sex on the pavement with a drunken woman was yesterday cleared of rape.

Miles Cash (24), of Lavender Road, denied the offence and told Warwick Crown Court the unnamed woman had consented to all the sexual activity.

The jury took less than two hours to find Cash not guilty.

Peter Cooper, prosecuting, said the alleged victim, in her mid-20s, was out with a friend and very drunk when she met Cash in a night club in Leamington Spa.

Cash, who told the woman he was a Dublin barrister, shared a taxi with her to his guesthouse and arrived there at 3am, when he was refused entry.

They walked off to Cash’s van, parked outside. The woman fell, grazing her hand and knee, as Cash tried to help her into it for sex.

Mr Cooper said she didn’t recall any sexual activity in the vehicle, though Cash claimed she had performed a sex act on him. She recalled walking and sitting on the pavement and refusing Cash’s request for sex.

The next she remembered was waking up on the pavement with Cash on top of her. She screamed and he stood up. They shared a taxi to her home before he continued his journey.

Once inside she exchanged texts with a friend saying she had “hooked up” with a guy but was now home.

A few days later she sent another text saying he had raped her, and contacted police.

Cash told the jury the woman consented to sex on the pavement.

He told the court: “I told lies that I was a barrister because I hoped she would like me. There’s a difference between telling lies like that and raping someone.”