Former Lincolnshire Police officer cleared of raping woman

Frazer MacDowall is on trial for rape at Nottingham Crown Court

A former trainee Lincolnshire Police officer has been cleared of raping a 20-year-old woman.

Frazer McDowall, 24, of Ryland Road, Welton, was acquitted by a jury at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday.

He had been accused of raping a woman he met on a night out in Lincoln while off-duty on 16 October last year.

He admitted having sex with the woman, who prosecutors said was too drunk to have consented, but a jury unanimously found him not guilty of rape.

Mr McDowall sobbed as he walked free from the dock after the verdict was returned following three hours and 46 minutes of deliberations.

The former probationary constable resigned from Lincolnshire Police earlier this year after the force uncovered derogatory messages he sent over WhatsApp about the complainant, the public and colleagues.

The texts were posted in a group in which the force said five male officers shared "wholly inappropriate" and "grossly discourteous" messages. They were discovered after Mr McDowall's phone was seized during the rape investigation.

"The tone of the chat was generally disrespectful, unkind and indecent," Lincolnshire Police said in a statement.

'Abhorrent behaviour'

Detectives passed the messages to the force's Professional Standards Department, which found in July that all five had committed gross misconduct. They were not named at the time due to Mr McDowall's impending trial.

Police constables Craig Barratt, 40, and Richard Hughes, 39, were sacked with immediate effect. The other three officers - PC John Feeney, 29, probationary officer Joshua Porter, 28, and Mr McDowall - would have been dismissed if they had not already resigned.

Five police officers based at Lincoln station were found to have committed gross misconduct

Chief Constable Chris Haward said: "The behaviour of this group of individuals was abhorrent and completely unacceptable.

"We are all here to serve with respect and impartiality, and to treat colleagues in the way they have, not to mention the language they used about members of the public, is something that will not be tolerated at Lincolnshire Police. It simply does not belong here."