A man was charged with rape despite the woman involved in the case telling police that he had not committed a crime

A man was charged with rape despite the woman involved in the case telling police that he had not committed a crime.

The man, known as Male Two, visited the woman's home with another man, Male One, and the three ended up in bed together - but the woman soon believed she was being taken advantage of.

When she shouted 'stop' Male Two stopped but Male One continued to have sex with her against her will. The woman said Male Two then pulled the other man away, a fact she told police, making it clear Male One had raped her but Male Two had not.

The Times reports that police charged the man with rape even though the woman insisted that he had committed no crime.

She told police: 'I do not believe Male Two should be charged. I do not believe he did anything wrong on the night. I am thankful that Male Two was there as without him I do not know how long Male One would have continued to have sex with me.'

The CPS had her statement but still charged both men with rape and took the case to court in January. Male Two's barrister was only made aware of the woman's statement on the first day of his rape trial.

A judge told the prosecution to review the decision to bring the case to court and it dropped the case against Male Two.

But the woman also withdrew her support for the prosecution of the man she says raped her because she no longer trusted the system.

The case was brought to light by an episode of the BBC’s Panorama programme which will air tonight.

Also on the programme is the case of a man who spent more than two years in jail for a rape he did not commit after vital Facebook evidence was missed by detectives says police 'wanted him' to be guilty.

Danny Kay, 26, was only released when his family managed to find deleted social media messages that proved he was innocent.

Danny Kay spent more than two years in jail for a rape that he did not commit after vital Facebook evidence was missed by the police

Mr Kay, from Derby, told the BBC's Panorama that the messages that had been given to them by his accuser were not the full conversation.

He said one example of the doctored conversations made it appear as though he had apologised for raping the woman.

Speaking as part of the BBC's investigation, which airs tonight, he said: 'From the moment I was arrested the police confiscated my mobile and my laptop.

'They took all my details for social media so they had the means to go through it.

'I don't believe they tried to find the truth. I believe they wanted me to be, to be guilty and they tried to find me guilty.'

The case against him was finally overturned when his family stepped in and found archived messages that proved he had been apologising to the woman when she asked why he had been ignoring her - and not for raping her.

Mr Kay, who was jailed in 2013, added: 'I don't believe I will be able to get my life where it could have been.'

The Crown Prosecution Service has been left reeling following a series of collapsed rape trials in recent months. The Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders, also oversaw controversial - and failed - prosecutions of journalists and historic child abuse cases. She will stand down in October after five years in the role.

Mrs Saunders denied claims the CPS has failed under her watch, insisting her prosecutors were performing as well or better than ever before in courts up and down the country despite budget cuts.

And she insisted measures were taken to address concerns about evidence disclosure in rape cases following a series of high-profile trials collapsed last year.

Mrs Saunders, who earned £250,000 as DPP in 2017, started her career at the CPS in 1986.

The high-flying lawyer has come under fire for insisting no innocent person is in jail after being wrongly convicted because of mistakes in disclosure. Data obtained by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act found the number of prosecutions that have collapsed because of blunders in disclosing crucial evidence has soared by 70 per cent in the past two years.

More than 900 suspects had charges dropped last year because police and prosecutors failed to hand evidence to defence lawyers.

In the lead up to criminal trials, police and prosecutors have a duty to disclose evidence that might either assist the defence case or undermine the prosecution.

But the recent collapse of several rape cases has heightened concerns that evidence is not being disclosed early enough, and that the rules are not being followed.

Panorama: Getting A Fair Trial tonight, 8.30pm, BBC One.