Snooker star cleared of rape

Snooker star Quinten Hann was cleared at the Old Bailey today of raping a university student at his Savoy apartment.

The Australian, ranked 14th in the world and a former world pool champion, looked pale and close to tears but turned in triumph to his mother sitting in the public gallery. The jury of seven men and five women had taken two and a half hours to reach their unanimous verdict after the seven-day trial.

Hann admitted having sex with the 21-year-old South African but told the jury it had been with her consent. His counsel argued that when a woman said "no" she might mean something different.

Hann and Miss S had met at the Roadhouse club in Covent Garden, where the student had been drinking. When they went on to his £2,000-a-week flat with two friends she admitted she had allowed him to start removing her clothes while the two friends were in the next-door bedroom because she was "limp and apathetic" through alcohol.

Miss S told the court she repeatedly cried "no, I don't want that" but he pursued her across the floor before forcing her into sex.

But Hann, 25, claimed she said "no" when they were already having sex and he immediately stopped. His counsel, Sir Ivan Lawrence QC, told the jury "even feminists" must accept that a man confronted with a naked woman could be forgiven for believing her refusal "does not mean no".

What the jury did not know was that Sir Ivan had earlier tried to persuade the judge to dismiss the charge by telling him "sometimes a woman says no to make it more exciting for the man". He said a woman may "say no 1,000 times but if she shows by her actions that she doesn't mean it, it doesn't necessarily mean that consent is withdrawn".

After the alleged rape, Miss S gave Hann her mobile phone number and agreed to have lunch with him the next day, which, she told the jury, was intended to ensure she was able to escape from him as quickly as possible.

He rang her as she took a taxi home and they spoke for four minutes. When she arrived home she told a girlfriend "I think I have been raped" and the police were called.

When officers arrived at the Savoy apartment five hours after the alleged rape they found Hann in bed with another woman.

Throughout the alleged rape of Miss S, the two friends in the next room said they had heard no shouting or sounds of distress and Miss S had given them no cause for concern or hint she was being attacked.

Tests later found that far from being "out of it" through drink, Miss S had only consumed enough alcohol to meet the legal drink-drive limit. And her suggestion she had been slipped a date-rape drug was not supported by any forensic evidence.

Hann, who mostly lives in Melbourne and is now staying in Hyde Park, had pleaded not guilty to rape in October last year.

He is renowned in Australian snooker circles for his short temper and eccentric behaviour, which once led former world champion Steve Davis to suggest he needed a psychologist.