Manchester student cleared of rape charges

The Manchester student arrested for rape last year has been released without charge.

The student, who The Tab has chosen not to name, was arrested on suspicion of raping a woman at her home near Whitworth Park after a night out in May 2013.

All charges dropped: the incident in question was claimed to have happened after a night out at Factory

After the incident last year he was bailed a few days later, awaiting further action.

But earlier this month, police dropped all charges against him, after being on bail for eight months.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police told The Tab: “This suspect was released from bail on 10th January and no further action will be taken against him.”

The acquitted student studies at Manchester Uni

Speaking exclusively to The Tab, the newly acquitted student said: “I’m unbelievably emotionally relieved to be able to go back to feeling like a normal person, and carry on my life without having all this lingering over me.”

Manchester Student Safety: the page with thousands of likes where the photo was originally shared

Back in May, the news sparked huge controversy among Manchester students when police published the student’s photo on their Facebook page after he was first suspected of rape.

The photo was relentlessly shared on Facebook in a bid to identify the suspect – and it even appeared on ITV news. The image was later removed but not before outrage broke out across Facebook and Twitter.

There was uproar after the suspect’s photo was shared on Facebook

And the outcry was hard to ignore – The Tab’s Ed Bannister shed light on the witch hunt, saying: “Innocent until proven guilty – that means don’t share his photo with comments such as ‘If I ever saw him down a darkened alley’, ‘sick fuck’ and the like. Those are just two comments I saw perusing Facebook today – I can guarantee there were far more.

“But next time you see someone’s photo being shared as a ‘rapist’, stop for a second. Innocent until proven guilty. That should remain paramount.”