Horncastle man cleared of rape after trial

​Sean Boothby, 40, of Tennyson Gardens, had denied a single charge of rape which was alleged to have occurred on May 9, 2022.

But a jury at Lincoln Crown Court found Boothby not guilty by a unanimous verdict after a two day trial.

During her evidence, the complainant - who can not be named to protect her anonymity - said she asked Boothby to stop sexual intercourse on two occasions.

The woman said she told Boothby: "Can you please stop, it's hurting," jurors heard.

But giving evidence, Boothby said the sex was consensual and insisted he did not rape the woman.

When questioned by defence barrister Karen Walton, Boothby said: "I asked."

Boothby told jurors at the time of the allegation, he was working as a builder during the week and as a DJ at the weekends.

On the night of the allegation, Boothby told jurors he drank eight cans of beer, but said it did not affect his memory.

Asked how long the sexual intercourse took, Boothby replied: "Five to ten minutes."

Boothby said he did not hear the woman say "stop" or hear her crying during the intercourse, and insisted he would have stopped if he was asked.

In his police interview Boothby told officers he could not be 100 percent sure what the woman had said.

Boothby told jurors his ears would have been ringing because of the building work he had been doing.

Under cross-examination from prosecution barrister Siward James-Moore, Boothby admitted he had not mentioned his ringing ears to the police.

Mr James-Moore suggested to Boothby that he wanted sex and had ignored the woman's protests.

But jurors took just 37 minutes to return a not guilty verdict.