A police detective has been cleared of allegations of raping a woman in a hotel room while he was attending a conference about seizing the proceeds of crime.
Nicholas Doherty, a detective constable, had told the jury at Warwick crown court that he had consensual sex with the woman in the early hours at a hotel in Warwickshire.
The jury was told that Doherty, 42, a member of Cumbria police who lives in Barrow-in-Furness, was not traced until a year after.
The woman told police she had been raped and left with bruising at a hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon after meeting a man, who she did not know, in a pub.
When he was interviewed, the court heard, Doherty said his memory was poor because of the passage of time but he was able to remember having consensual sex with a woman on the relevant night.
In a video interview conducted shortly after she made her complaint, the woman said she could remember sitting in the hotel room talking to the man near a mug of tea, and then her memory became “hazy”.
Doherty denied two counts of rape, one of attempted rape and a charge of assault by penetration. He was acquitted of all counts.
