Nile Ranger cleared of rape charges following week-long trial

The former Newcastle player denied the allegations

Ex-Premier League striker Nile Ranger (PA)

Footballer Nile Ranger has been cleared of raping a woman in a hotel.

The 22-year-old former Newcastle United striker denied the accusation and said they had consensual sex after going out drinking together.

He told Newcastle Crown Court he had never engaged in sexual activity with a woman against her will and the jury returned the not guilty verdict after the week-long trial.

Ranger and the woman had met in a city centre bar and gone on to different clubs before eventually booking into the Carlton Hotel, in Jesmond, Newcastle.

Giving evidence, the woman said that she had no memory of the night after the first bar they were in until she woke up naked next to Ranger in bed.

Ranger told her she should take the morning after pill. She left and they continued to swap messages that day, the court heard.

She then visited her GP, was checked at hospital and made a rape allegation to police.

But after being arrested Ranger, now playing for Swindon Town, told the police they had had sex more than once and that she had engaged "whole heartedly" and "enthusiastically".

The court heard that the pair had been messaging for a year before the incident, with Ranger often trying to meet up with her.

This had led the student to refer to him as a "predator" and "Nile Ripper" in some texts they exchanged.

PA