US airman cleared part-way through rape trial after social media messages review
A US serviceman accused of raping a woman at an RAF base has been found not guilty, after prosecutors offered no further evidence against him.
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Keharron Lee Bogstad, 24, was formally found not guilty of three counts of rape on the direction of the judge, after a Crown Prosecution Service review of a "complete log" of social media messages sent between him and the complainant.
Prosecutors at a trial which started early last week had alleged that Bogstad raped the woman, who cannot be identified, on three occasions, after smuggling her into RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in the boot of his car, in late 2020 and early 2021.
But prosecutor Paul Jarvis KC told jurors, who returned to court on Tuesday after being sent home last Wednesday because of legal argument, that the Crown was now offering no evidence in the case after a review of thousands of social media messages.
Mr Jarvis told the jury: "Last week the defence served upon the prosecution a large number of messages between Mr Bogstad and (the complainant)."
The messages appeared to be a "complete record" of communications between Bogstad and the woman, Mr Jarvis said, adding that a "thorough review" of the material, involving senior prosecutors, had reached the conclusion that there was no longer a realistic prospect of a jury reaching a guilty verdict.
Judge Adrienne Lucking KC then directed the jury to return unanimous not guilty verdicts on all three counts and Bogstad was discharged from the dock.
The court heard the messages were not disclosed to the Crown by the defence until the first day of the trial.
Bogstad denied rape on the grounds that he genuinely and reasonably believed the woman had been consenting, during activity involving sado-masochistic sexual practices.
During a police video interview from 2022, played to the jury last week, the woman said she had provided screengrabs of "the worst" messages sent between her and Bogstad as she "just wanted to be helpful".
She also said she had deleted the social media app they used from her phone.
Bogstad’s trial did not reach the stage where he could give evidence to the jury, but the court heard he discussed "the line" around the issue of consent with the woman in a social media message, telling her: "I don’t want to cross that ever."
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: "We have stopped this case following the emergence of new evidence which fundamentally undermined the prosecution.
"As prosecutors, we have a duty to keep all cases under continuous review and look at any material that may affect the fairness of a trial."
In light of the new information it was no longer possible to proceed as there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction, the spokesperson added.