Woman wins civil case against man cleared of raping her in St. Andrews

A woman's won a civil case against a man who was cleared of raping her after a night out in St. Andrews back in 2013.

Stephen Coxen - who's from Bury in the north west of England - denied the charges, and a jury returned the 'not proven' verdict nearly three years ago.

The student, who can't be named for legal reasons, then sued the 23-year-old earlier this year.

She's now been awarded £80,000 in damages - in what's thought to be the first ruling of its kind in Scotland.

Sandy Brindley, Chief Executive of Rape Crisis Scotland said: “This is a landmark judgement, and testament to Ms M’s courage and tenacity in seeking justice.

"While this is a victory for her, she should not have had to go through the ordeal of two trials to search for some form of justice.

"We are aware Ms M feels let down by the criminal justice system. This is a feeling echoed by many, many rape survivors we are working with.

"Unless there are radical improvements to how the Scottish criminal justice system responds to rape, we anticipate seeing more and more women turning to the civil system in a desperate search for justice”.

Simon Di Rollo QC (Counsel for the pursuer) added: "The Sheriff has accepted that the evidence the pursuer was raped as cogent, compelling and persuasive.

"The pursuer is an extremely courageous woman. It is understandable that she found it impossible to come to terms with the verdict of the jury in the criminal proceedings.

"Although the findings by the Sheriff in these civil proceedings are of assistance there can be no doubt that her experience of the criminal justice system was unsatisfactory. Unfortunately, that is not as unusual as it should be.

"I think that everyone must strive to ensure that, so far as is possible, others in the future do not feel as let down as she did".