Three men have been cleared of a group sex attack on a student. Kevin Shoesmith spoke to them after the trial.
COURTROOM Number 2 erupted in a cheer from the public gallery, while two of the three students accused of a college campus sex attack struggled to stifle tears.
A third defendant, his eyes fixed on the front of the courtroom, struggled to remain on his feet in the dock.
At 2.10pm yesterday, following a five-day trial at Hull Crown Court, the jury foreman rose to his feet and returned the verdicts.
Unanimously, Thomas Price, 21, of Rotherham, Stephen Johnson, 22, of Tickton, and William Robinson, 20, of Doncaster, were acquitted of all charges following a five-day trial.
It signalled the end of almost ten months of uncertainty for the men, as well as their family and friends.
The trio were accused of attacking an 18-year-old fellow student in her room at Bishop Burton College, near Beverley, last September.
Such was the noise from the public gallery after Mr Price was acquitted first, Judge David Tremberg had to appeal for order.
One by one, the others were cleared of all charges against them.
Mr Price, who was accused of rape and assault by penetration, resisted the urge to look at the faces of the jury when the verdicts were given.
Next to him, Mr Johnson and Mr Robinson turned their heads to look at the six men and six women in whose hands their future rested.
With each "not guilty" verdict, both men exhaled, threw back their heads and clasped their hands to their mouths.
Seconds later, a warder opened a glass door encasing the defendants and the men were met by their tearful families.
A few hours earlier, they had helped pack bags in the event that their sons were found guilty.
On the landing outside the courtroom, the men spoke of their ordeals.
It was Mr Johnson's birthday, but no celebrations had been planned.
"It's pure relief, not celebration," said a relative.
Mr Johnson, already on a mobile phone to a loved one, was hurried away by his solicitor to a room to complete paperwork.
His parents, Brian and Yvonne Johnson, were left to speak of their own heartache and fear.
"I think giving birth was easier than these past few months," said Mrs Johnson. "I listened carefully to the evidence and I felt the only verdict the jury could return was not guilty.
"We never once doubted our son was innocent."
Mr Johnson said: "It's the end of months of stress and concern that any parents in this situation would naturally have for their child. I would like to thank the people who sent our family messages of support. It meant a lot."
A few feet away, Mr Price stood surrounded by a group of his relatives.
He said: "I nearly fell over when the verdict came. I could feel my legs go. I felt myself going.
"I could feel a huge weight lift off my shoulders when that 'not guilty' verdict came."
Mr Robinson was surrounded by supporters who had made the trip down the M62 from South Yorkshire.
He admitted he feared being sent to prison for a crime he did not commit.
"Deep down, I think we all knew we would get not guilty verdicts," said Mr Robinson.
"But no one could say for certain what was going to be happen to us.
"That was obviously the biggest worry for us in there."
All three men had claimed sexual activity with the woman was consensual.
During the trial, it was alleged the men had taken the woman's keys and pushed her into her room, where the attack was said to have happened.
Afterwards, it was said the men had left her room, laughing.
The trial was told a friend of the woman had reported what had apparently happened to college authorities and an investigation was launched.
The woman was asked by the college to name the men who allegedly attacked her.
The court heard how she had been instructed to leave the college.
Mr Price's barrister, Paul Genney, suggested to her that the sex attack story had been concocted.
"You went perfectly willingly with those men and everything that happened with them was done with consent," he told her.
"I suggest you were angry with them for walking off and laughing and you were upset and hurt."
The jury was shown CCTV footage of the three men approaching the woman as she smoked outside the college that night.
According to the defence counsels, she was smiling and appeared to be going with the men willingly.
Mr Price said he wants to return to Bishop Burton College.
He said: "I would like to go back. We've got some stuff to sort out first though."
