Police officer acquitted of rape and assault charges
Police officer Martyn Coulter has been acquitted of raping and assaulting a woman and child, by a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh
Last updated 14th Feb 2023
A Police officer accused of raping and assaulting a woman and child has been acquitted of all charges against him.
36-year-old Martyn Coulter was under trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Today (Tuesday 14th of February) Mr Coulter was found not guilty of six charges and given a not proven verdict on another.
The jury made up of nine men and six women, took under four hours to clear him of the allegations after retiring to consider their verdict yesterday afternoon.
Coulter was accused of raping and assaulting a woman and raping, sexually assaulting and assaulting a child under the age of 13.
He was suspended from his job as a Police officer as a result of the accusations.
During the seven-day trial, the court heard evidence about the alleged incidents.
But there were no concrete dates agreed on when the incidents were said to have taken place.
Coulter's defence agent, Ian Duguid KC, presented evidence to the trial showing Coulter's whereabouts on September 23 2013 including Google maps, timelines, bank statements and social media posts.
The court was also shown records of Coulter's army training records, which revealed he was on a training course between September 6 and 21 that year.
A woman told the court on February 6 she could not recall the exact date, but said she went to Coulter's flat at lunchtime on or around September 23 2013 to celebrate the news he was going on a tour of duty of Afghanistan with the Territorial Army.
She told the court he had wanted to have sex with her to celebrate, but she told him she did not want to because she did not have time. She alleged he then raped her.
But the court heard that she appeared to have gone on a night out with Coulter that evening.
She also told the court she could not remember the night in question as it was 10 years ago.
The witness, however, insisted she could not remember being with him on the date in question.
Mr Duguid put it to the witness that Coulter had not received a letter that he would be deployed to Afghanistan in September, and had actually been told in November he would be sent for a maximum of 12 weeks due to being in the Territorial Army.