26/10/04

Date Rape Hell 

Evening Standard 

A teacher today spoke of his anger at the woman who accused him of rape after they met speed-dating.

Giles Rush, 31, told of his ordeal for the first time after a jury took only 30 minutes to decide he was innocent.

He said his name had been "dragged through the mud" during the trial and he recalled his horror at being driven to Wandsworth prison with convicted sex offenders.

Mr Rush added: "It makes me furious that she can get away with doing this without anyone knowing, because her anonymity is protected, while everyone knows my name."

He said he had only been charged with rape because he had not spent "an hour cuddling her" after they had had sex at her flat

He added: "It was insensitive to leave so soon after we'd had sex. I am not proud of the way I acted. But I didn't deserve to have my name dragged through the mud so publicly for being an idiot.

"The simple fact is that if I'd spent an hour cuddling her instead of rushing off, I would never have been accused of rape."

The jury at Kingston Crown Court was told that she had made the complaint six weeks after their brief encounter to "teach him a lesson".

Mr Rush, of Tunbridge Wells, first met the 43-year-old woman last November when he turned to speeddating after splitting up from his longterm girlfriend.

The pair swapped phone numbers at the end of the evening and soon began texting each other. He said she bombarded him with more than 40 text messages, many of them erotic.

Four months later he was arrested and charged with rape. He was accused of dragging the woman into the bedroom of her south-west London flat and raping her after she had invited him in for a cup of tea on her birthday.

Today the full details emerged of how she felt bitter after their brief sexual encounter and sought to "frighten" Mr Rush.

He said he had visited her home in January and had told her he could only stay for a short while. "It wasn't just some excuse to leave," he said. "It might not be romantic, but it's not

illegal. I realised I'd made a terrible mistake when she said, 'Is that all you come round for, to s**g me?' "

Ten weeks later Mr Rush learned of the rape accusation when police contacted his mother saying they urgently wanted to speak to him.

He was questioned for five hours before being told he was to be charged with rape and was remanded in custody for eight days before being freed on bail. His ordeal ended last week when a jury cleared him.

Today he told the Daily Mail: "Being accused of sex crime is just about the worst thing that could happen to a man.

"Even though I am innocent, there will be people who think, 'There's no smoke without fire'. "