CAVENDISH/GETTY George Owen has been cleared of rape after the alleged victim said it was 'fun'

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George Owen, 21, was subjected to a two-year ordeal after the woman, now 20, said he forced himself on her in an alley. The student initially declined to report it but did so a year later after spotting Mr Owen by chance in a pub. He told police she initiated sex and said it was drunken but consensual. Despite his denials, he was charged with rape, attempted rape and sexual assault.

GETTY The alleged victim once described her claim to a friend on social media as simply 'fun'

Mr Owen was this week cleared by a jury at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court after it was shown the woman’s Facebook messages. Writing to a friend about her allegations, she said: “OMG hahahahaha my mum knows. “She wants to hold my hand to go through it all with me. I was only raped chill the **** out. “Going to ring police tomorrow. My mum wants to come so I’m going to do it while she’s on holiday. It’s going to be so fun.” After a week-long trial the jury took just over two hours to unanimously clear the ex-public schoolboy, a keen golfer, to cheers from the public gallery. The encounter happened after the girl was at a bar in Bury, Greater Manchester, in June 2015, the court was told. It was claimed a friend of Mr Owen’s drunkenly asked her for sex before Mr Owen stepped in, apologised and offered to pay for her taxi home. She claimed that outside Mr Owen repeatedly sexually assaulted her before throwing her a £5 note and saying: “Go home.” Ten months later, in April 2016, she attended a rape crisis centre and called police after spotting Mr Owen playing pool with pals.

CAVENDISH George told police she initiated sex and said it was drunken but consensual