Ordeal: History student Louis Richardson, 21, was suspended from his studies at Durham last year

With its historic colleges and large body of ex-public school students, Durham University has long enjoyed a reputation as a respectable alternative to Oxbridge.

So when Louis Richardson enrolled there to read history, his intention was to make the most of the opportunities on offer.

As well as joining its Conservative Association, he signed up for the university’s Champagne Society, and even had a crack at clay pigeon shooting.

But his greatest achievement came when he was made secretary of the prestigious Union Society debating club.

There, resplendent in black tie, he would welcome the great and the good to air their views about the pressing topics of the day – everything from size zero models to the value of the European Union to Britain.

And, as is the way with such student organisations, once the serious talk was over, the role offered plenty of scope for socialising. Indeed, in photographs posted on Facebook, Richardson was rarely seen without a drink or an attractive female student.

Of course, many will argue, isn’t that what university life is all about? But as Richardson would discover to his cost, such behaviour is not without its perils. In March 2014 the second-year undergraduate had sex with a fellow student after a drink-fuelled evening at a notorious Durham nightclub.

In the weeks that followed, Richardson and the woman continued to sleep together. (Although she had a boyfriend at home, the couple had agreed they could see people ‘on the side’.)

She also regularly swapped flirtatious messages with Richardson via Facebook.

Support: Richardson is flanked by his parents, Simon and Judy, outside Durham Crown Court yesterday

In one, the woman referred to him as a ‘sexy menace’, while in another she told him: ‘I’ll let you spank me’. A third included a photo of her cleavage with the message: ‘Present for you, darling.’

So far, so good, Richardson thought.

But after several months of this sexually-charged banter, out of the blue he received a Facebook message from the girl while she was on holiday with her boyfriend, accusing him of having raped her while drunk. ‘I said no and you did it anyway,’ it concluded.

Following a complaint to police, Richardson was arrested. When the news was made public, a second woman came forward to claim that he had groped her as she lay in a bed during a student party.

Charged with rape and indecent assault, Richardson’s life immediately ground to a halt. Suspended from university, he was forced to put his studies on hold and return to live with his parents in Jersey.

When, finally, the trial began last week, he resolutely denied the charges, claiming the sex had been consensual and accusing the woman’s jealous boyfriend of encouraging her to make the complaint. The jury at Durham Crown Court believed him, clearing him of all charges yesterday.

While the end of a nightmare for Richardson, questions remain as to how on earth the case got to court in the first place. His barrister went so far as to describe his accuser’s evidence as being so full of lies and contradictions it demeaned ‘genuine rape victims’.

Since 1972: The Klute nightclub has become something of an institution at Durham. Unfortunately, its reputation has been based largely on boorish behaviour fuelled by the excessive consumption of alcohol

‘The allegations have devastated his life,’ a close university friend told the Mail last night. ‘He had this bright future, was really well liked and doing well at Durham. Because of this, he couldn’t graduate, all his plans have been stalled and the last year has been a living hell.’

Since opening its doors in 1972, the Klute nightclub has become something of an institution among undergraduates at Durham. It is especially popular with sporting clubs and the Rahs – the name given to the clique of Sloaney students at the university. Unfortunately, its reputation has been based largely on boorish behaviour fuelled by the excessive consumption of alcohol.

Party lifestyle: A photo from Richardson's open Facebook page

Once featured in a poll of the worst nightclubs in Europe, recollections of past goings-on there abound with stories of sexual antics in dark corners and unsavoury drinking games. However dubious its attractions, it was to Klute that Richardson and his accuser, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, would head on that fateful evening.

At the time Richardson was living university life – and the high life – to the full.

The son of a bank manager, he had enjoyed a relatively modest upbringing on Jersey. There, while attending Hautlieu Secondary School, he had been chosen to represent the school in the island’s annual Youth Assembly. During the event, which sees pupils participate in a government meeting, he voted against raising the legal sale limit of alcohol to 21.

Having won a place at Durham, he had clearly chosen to move in a certain social circle, making the most of his evident self-confidence and brooding charm. As for the privately-educated young woman, Richardson met her via Facebook. He would describe her as ‘an intriguing individual’ who ‘doesn’t really like poor people’.

Like Richardson, she enjoyed a drink, jokingly describing herself to friends as a ‘booze-hound’. Indeed, on the night in question she would claim that she was ‘crazy drunk’. Richardson, meanwhile, was said to have drunk several pints and a quaddie – a drink containing four shots of vodka.

The alleged victim said Richardson had offered to take her home and look after her. She said her next memory was of waking up naked in his bed the following morning, at which point she claimed he joked she had been ‘rubbish’.

‘I can remember him saying I was really bad in bed because I was unresponsive,’ she said.

Two months after that incident she claimed that Richardson had indecently assaulted her at a party by exposing her bra and saying: ‘Get your t*** out. Everyone else has seen them.’

Some time after the second incident she confided to close friends about the alleged rape, then contacted the police.

Cathedral Square: With its historic colleges and large body of ex-public school students, Durham University has long enjoyed a reputation as a respectable alternative to Oxbridge

But Richardson paints a very different version of events.

Having met online, they had first slept together ten days before the alleged rape.

Following a night out at Klute – where else – they had returned to his house and had sex. They spent much of the next day together, walking along the river and having lunch. Having returned to Klute for the second date, he said that while they had both been drinking, they were not drunk. Sex had been consensual and she was a willing and active participant.

Top job: Richardson's greatest achievement came when he was made secretary of the prestigious Union Society debating club

Richardson claimed she even called out her boyfriend’s name while they were ‘in the throes of passion’.

They discussed the incident the next morning and she told him the man was ‘someone she had sex with when she was at home,’ he said. In the weeks that followed, flirty Facebook messages were sent between the pair and they continued to sleep together ‘very frequently’.

On May 10, she mentioned having to call her boyfriend and Richardson said he started to realise the woman was in a serious relationship. But the woman told Richardson the boyfriend didn’t know about them and ‘neither does he care any more’.

The court heard she told Richardson she was going abroad on holiday with her boyfriend in June. Days before she left they had dinner together. Richardson said: ‘She said her boyfriend had stopped having girls on the side and she thought she should stop having people on the side too. She implied it was about me.’

Later that evening they were ‘kissing and cuddling’ on the sofa at a friend’s house. Richardson said her bra ‘would have been exposed’ but he denied any improper behaviour.

He claimed that the first he knew of any problem was in June when the woman and her boyfriend were abroad.

He received a message from her Facebook account which read: ‘I don’t want to hurt you but I feel it’s best we don’t speak any more. You know (boyfriend’s name) is very special to me and my betrayal of him has caused trust issues.

‘I don’t want to lose him, that means I have to lose you. I’m sorry I am such a terrible bitch. It’s the way I feel and I don’t mean to hurt either of you.’ While ‘devastated’ that he had been dumped, Richardson decided to take it on the chin, replying ‘fair enough’.

However a more serious message followed, saying: ‘I have been doing some thinking. I consider our last time rape. I said no and you did it anyway. I ask you not to contact me again… active immediately.’

Trial: When former history student Richardson was arrested for rape, he was ‘shocked and devastated'

Richardson said he then received a text from the woman saying that she had not sent the messages, adding: ‘He wrote it.’

Richardson told the court: ‘I thought it was seeming like a petty threat done by a boyfriend who was probably a bit over paranoid.’

His barrister, Philippa McAtasney QC, went further, branding the woman a ‘manipulative liar’ who, she claimed, in ‘salving her cheating conscience’ had belittled the experience of real victims.

Out and about: Richardson poses with the Man with Potential Selves statue in Newcastle city centre

She told the jury: ‘She is a highly manipulative young lady... she uses people, she is attention-seeking and she lies when it suits her purpose. She is a dishonest, dangerous young woman. She was using Louis.’

The court heard that the complainant had self-harmed while at university by carving a word into her upper thigh. She has also been treated for depression.

When Richardson was arrested for rape, he was ‘shocked and devastated’. After news of his arrest was revealed in a student newspaper, a second woman complained to police that Richardson had indecently assaulted her.

The alleged incident took place in October 2014 at a student party where the woman had felt unwell and gone upstairs to sleep.

When she awoke she found there were several men sat around the bed having a heated political discussion. She said she realised a man she did not know was sitting on a chair next to the bed with one hand under her top, squeezing her breast firmly above her bra, while his other hand was in her leggings, ‘stroking’ her over her underwear.

Richardson claimed the woman had complained of feeling unwell and that he had put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. ‘She took my hand and brought it to her breast. I went along with it.’ He said it was there for ‘moments’ and nothing else happened.

The jury evidently agreed, finding him not guilty on all counts.

It is understood Richardson plans to resume his studies, but how long it will take him to repair the damage inflicted on his reputation is another question altogether.

When he was arrested, he told detectives that he was very fond of an adage, taught to him by his great-uncle: ‘I don’t mind a thief, but I hate a liar.’

He added: ‘If someone says I have done something I haven’t, it bloody annoys me.’