Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Conor Riordan,

Man sued after being cleared of rape is declared bankrupt

A man who was acquitted of rape but then successfully sued has been declared bankrupt, meaning he does not have to pay his victim any damages.

Stephen Coxen was accused in a criminal trial of raping a woman in St Andrews, Fife, after a night out in September 2013.

The 24-year-old, of Bury in Lancashire, denied the charges and in November 2015 a jury cleared him on a not-proven verdict in a criminal trial.

Woman who claims she was raped by abusive ex-partner to sue him for damages  

Scotland has three verdicts - guilty, not guilty and not proven. Not guilty and not proven have the same result, both being verdicts of acquittal.

After a civil case at the Personal Injury Court in the Edinburgh Sheriff Court building, Sheriff Robert Weir QC later ruled the woman had been raped.

Miss M, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was awarded £80,000 in damages in October.

Woman wins £80,000 in damages after suing man cleared of raping her in St Andrew's  

It has now emerged Coxen was declared bankrupt in February.

She told BBC Scotland: "I don't think people should just think about this as terrible that he's made himself bankrupt, because really, I've never wanted to go after him for money.

"The whole point of my whole process - my whole fight over the years is really just for a sheriff to say 'you know he did rape you - this did happen'."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.