A soldier has been acquitted of sexual assault against a teenager after a six-day trial.
Alan Rai, a Lance Corporal in the British Army, was accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl and strangling her in spring 2024.
But jurors at Southampton Crown Court returned not guilty verdicts for both charges on Tuesday.
The verdicts came in at 2.18pm after two hours and 58 minutes of deliberation.
READ MORE: Girl ‘asked me to choke her’ on first date, soldier tells jury
Giving evidence, Rai, 28, said the girl initiated the strangulation after he kissed her.
He said the pair returned to his car after a walk in the New Forest, and that all sexual activity with the victim was consensual, and she “enjoyed it”.
It had been alleged by prosecutors during the trial that Rai, of Solstice Rise, Amesbury, drove the girl to a country park before assaulting her in his car.
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