Soldier cleared of raping woman after booze tour

A young soldier has been dramatically cleared of rape after a jury believed his story that his alleged victim had been a “willing” sexual partner.

The High Court in Livingston. Pic: Lisa Ferguson

Infantryman Kieran Craig, 19, hugged his parents with delight after a jury found him not guilty of the charge.

He had accused the woman of making up the allegations to hide her embarrassment at having intercourse with someone she’d just met after taking part in a booze tour of Edinburgh.

Craig, whose father is a senior Army officer, told the High Court at Livingston that he met the 23-year-old Polish national outside a nightclub in Cowgate and offered to walk her home.

He said she had held hands with him as they chatted and returned his kiss.

He told the jury she had also typed her name and number into his mobile phone before agreeing to have sex with him in the bedroom of her flat.

He was shocked when she called police who woke him up and handcuffed him in her bed at 8am before interviewing him about the alleged rape.

Craig, of Milton Bridge, Penicuik, East Lothian, denied assaulting and raping the woman in her Edinburgh flat on October 5 last year.

The jury took just half an hour to return a majority verdict finding him not guilty.