Four young men were dragged through ‘hell’ by bungling rape detectives who ‘buried’ the evidence that eventually caused the case against them to fall apart.

The quartet, who were arrested after a group sex session at a student ball, last night said police treated them as ‘guilty until proven innocent’.

Detectives were accused of ‘cherry-picking’ evidence to support their case, while ‘airbrushing’ out anything that suggested the men were innocent.

Thady Duff, Leo Mahon and Patrick Foster, all 22, and James Martin, 20, had denied charges of rape and sexual assault.

Cleared: Leo Mahon, Patrick Foster, Thady Duff and James Martin (all pictured left to right) have all been found not guilty of rape

Anger: James Martin with his father Andy after leaving court. Mr Martin's barrister said there needed to be a review into the handling of the case against his client

And the Gloucester Crown Court case against them fell apart after it emerged that the alleged victim had given ‘different accounts’ as a witness in another rape case.

Officers are also facing questions over why it took 13 months to charge the men, with lawyers alleging evidence had been ‘withheld’ by officers before the trial.

This included messages taken from the victim’s phone hinting that she may have consented.

The rape case collapsed on the day it was revealed that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) last year dropped more cases than in any of the previous five years.

The damning figures revealed that one in every eight Crown Court cases – more than 12,600 – were abandoned before they had even started.

Last night amateur jockey Mr Martin criticised the ‘devastating’ police investigation.

He said: ‘If they had done their job properly it would have been over a long time ago and I would have years of my life back.’

His barrister Edward Henry accused officers of ‘airbrushing’ and ‘cherry-picking’ evidence and said there will need to be a review.

He added: ‘We need to know the answers to some questions. Why this should have gone on for so long as it has? Why it took 13 months to decide to charge these defendants in the first place?’

Mr Henry had told the court there had been an ‘absolute failure’ by a police officer ‘to take notes except for self-serving acts on occasion’.

He said: ‘There are two notes where sexual behaviour has been mentioned to the officer and these notes have never made their way into the defence material.

‘He has vandalised the trial process. It is broken and cannot be fixed.’

The young men were arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault after the drunken sex session on the night of the ‘Mad Hatters’ May ball at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, in 2014.

A ‘pornographic’ video of the act was shared on social messaging app Snapchat – leading the woman involved to tell police she had been raped.

The group were accused of raping the alleged victim at the end-of-year ball at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, Gloucestershire (pictured)

The young men were facing prison sentences of more than ten years if they had been convicted.

THE WORLD-RENOWNED ROYAL AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY The University's annual Summer Ball is held in late May to mark end-of-year exams. The Royal Agricultural University is known as the 'Oxbridge of the Countryside' and the sons and daughters of many of Britain's biggest landowners are among its 1,200 students. The patron is Prince Charles and one of its former students is Captain Mark Phillips, former husband of Princess Anne. Around 1,200 students attend the RAU, which became the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world in 1845 when it was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria. Former students include political commentator Jonathan Dimbleby, Princess Anne's ex-husband Captain Mark Phillips and the late champion horse trainer Sir Henry Cecil. Her descendants have always been Patrons of the institution which stands in a beautiful 25-acre campus on the edge of Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Since 2008, it has seen a 49 per cent rise in applications and is ranked top in the UK for investing in campus facilities. The internationally renowned university, which until 2013 was known as the Royal Agricultural College, is rated the Oxbridge of agricultural studies. Founded in 1845, it was the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world. Advertisement

But it emerged on the eve of the trial opening that the police had failed to reveal that the alleged victim had given ‘different accounts’ as a witness to an alleged rape on an Army base in October 2014. The alleged rapist was a soldier but he was later cleared.

Detectives were also said to have ‘buried’ text messages sent by the woman which said she was worried she would ‘look bad’ if the sex tape got out.

Mr Martin yesterday spoke of his relief. The amateur jockey said he had been ‘devastated’ to be arrested and to have the charges hanging over him for two years, adding: ‘I didn’t feel like it was real. It was hard, very hard. It’s always been there.

‘It’s changed the way I think about things. I look at people in a different way now – a bit paranoid. It’s harder to trust anybody.

‘It has been hard, really hard for the families. It is a big relief for everyone. I’m relieved but annoyed it got this far.’

The son of a farrier said the police had treated the men as ‘guilty until proven innocent’. He added: ‘It just seems like something out of the 80s. You don’t expect to see the police do this to better themselves.’

Mr Martin said it was ‘frustrating’ that the woman behind the claims remained anonymous under law while the defendants were named and shamed.

He said: ‘She is twisted – she really is. To try to do that to four people just to save her name – I am lost for words.’

His parents Andy and Julia, from the tiny village of Swerford near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, said it had been ‘very distressing’.

Sobbing, his mother said: ‘I have seen my son change. The day we heard the case was closed, I got my son back.’

Melanie Duff, 54, whose polo-playing son Thady had been accused of three charges of rape and one of sexual assault, said the two-year ordeal had been ‘horrendous’.

DID POLICE 'AIRBRUSH' KEY EVIDENCE ABOUT GIRL BEFORE TRIAL? Key details that raised questions about the alleged rape victim’s credibility were ‘airbrushed’ out by police, it was claimed last night. Five months after the Royal Agricultural University’s May Ball, where she said she was raped by the four young men, the woman was involved in a sex session with an Army officer which led to the soldier being accused of rape by another woman. It is understood the complainant in the May Ball case was in the same Army barracks room when the soldier was alleged to have raped another woman. Initially the accuser said they had consensual sex but changed her story later to support the other woman’s rape accusation The soldier was court martialled but cleared of rape and sexual assault charges after she gave ‘different accounts’ of the alleged rape. The officer on the May Ball case was revealed to have kept quiet about the ‘different accounts’ the woman had provided. Leo Mahon of Cirencester, Gloucestershire (left) and Patrick Foster of Kelvedon, Colchester in Essex (right) Defence barristers acting for the four men argued the case showed the woman’s interest in group sex and demanded to know why neither they, nor the Crown Prosecution Service, had been told about it. Further analysis of the complainant’s phone revealed she had sent text messages on the night of the ball which raised further doubts about her accusations. The black-tie May Ball at the Royal Agricultural University is a chance for its students to let their hair down and celebrate finishing their exams. Hosted by the student union, the ‘Mad Hatters’ event is described as ‘the biggest ball of the year and the main event in the RAU social diary!’ Publicity for the event promises: ‘Live bands and top DJs, a funfair and partying from dusk ’til dawn.’ Yet for the four young men, the ‘drunken and riotous’ £85-a-head night at the Cotswolds university evolved into a sordid sex session and a two-year ordeal that had them labelled rapists with heavy jail sentences hanging over them. Based on the outskirts of Cirencester, Gloucestershire, and close to Prince Charles’s Highgrove home, the Royal Agricultural University counts the sons and daughters of many of Britain’s biggest landowners among its 1,200 students. But the ball in May 2014 – where unlimited beer, wine and cider was on offer – revealed a sleazy sexual side to student life. Former private schoolboys Patrick Foster and Thady Duff, farrier’s apprentice James Martin and jockey Leo Mahon were all accused of rape after indulging in a sex session with one young woman which was filmed and shared online. The ‘pornographic’ video surfaced on the social messaging app Snapchat and the ‘infuriated’ woman was ‘prompted’ by a student officer to go to the police. Thady Duff of Blunsdon, Swindon in Wiltshire (left) and James Martin of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire (right) Final-year university students Mr Duff, Mr Foster and Mr Mahon were all immediately suspended and have been unable to collect their degrees. They were kept on bail for more than a year before being charged with multiple counts of rape and sexual assault against the woman they all insisted had consented to sex. A student at the time said: ‘The ball was, as usual, a riotous occasion, with everyone throwing a considerable amount of alcohol down their throats. ‘We’ve got 1,200 students here and a good many of them were at the ball, as well as quite a few ex-students and staff. There’s never any trouble normally, beyond people letting their hair down and having a good time.’ The Royal Agricultural University became the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world in 1845 when it was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria. The college, which stands in a beautiful 25-acre campus on the edge of Cirencester, became a university in 2013. Advertisement

Mrs Duff, who runs a livery in rural Wiltshire, said: ‘Today is his first day of starting to rebuild his life. It is something which has been hanging over their heads.

ROYAL AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY RAPE TRIAL: A TIMELINE From left: Leo Mahan, Patrick Foster, Thady Duff and James Martin - their defence barristers have now called for action following the trial OCTOBER 2013: Thady Duff was accused of a further sexual assault involving the same alleged victim, which allegedly took place in October 2013. MAY 2014: Leo Mahon, 22, Patrick Foster, 22, James Martin, 20, and Thady Duff, 22, had been accused of subjecting a woman to a rape ordeal on the night of the annual May Ball in 2014. JULY 2015: All four men were charged by the Crown Prosecution Service in July 2015. MARCH 29, 2016: A jury of six men and six women were sworn in on March 29 to hear the case but were discharged a week later not having heard any evidence. The group appeared at Gloucester Crown Court on March 29 to deny all charges against them. MARCH 30, 2016: Their trial had been due to start on March 30, 2016. APRIL 2016: The case had been reviewed last week and a decision not to offer any evidence against the four defendants had been made. APRIL 11, 2016: All charges were dropped today save for one of possession of extreme pornography against Mr Duff. Advertisement

'There were some things they couldn’t do and some places they couldn’t go.’

The former Tory councillor for Swindon council added: ‘It has just been horrendous. Anyone who has had anything like this will be able to understand, but their names have been cleared now.’

Three of the men were students at the university and they were suspended in their final year. They have been unable to collect their degrees.

A defence source last night said the police investigation had also been ‘detrimental’ to the woman who made the claims.

He said: ‘To egg someone on, to give them unrealistic expectations – it sends out a dreadful message to women who have been raped and who will feel scared or reluctant to come forward.’

A spokesman for Accused.me.uk, the support group for victims of false allegations, said the young men should have been given life-long anonymity unless they had been convicted – just like the woman who made the complaint.

He said: ‘Why should their lives be for ever associated with these disgusting allegations?

‘The next time they go for a job, or go on a date, these stories will stick to them.

‘The fact that they were put on a trial which then collapsed illustrates the hell that many thousands of us are put through by the police and legal system each year.’

A hearing will be held at a later date to consider defence legal costs. None of the men is currently a student at the agricultural university.

A Gloucestershire Police spokesman said it would be ‘inappropriate to comment’ because it was waiting to hear ‘the specific detail’ of the criticism by the defence.

A CPS spokesman said: ‘The CPS has a duty under the Code for Crown Prosecutors to keep cases under continuous review.