Pinchbeck man cleared of rape

A Pinchbeck man today (Wednesday) walked free from court after he was cleared of raping a woman who he met on a night out in Spalding.

Matthew George Cocks (26) had denied a single charge of rape – telling a jury he had consensual sex with the woman after they shared a taxi home together.

A jury at Lincoln Crown Court took less than two hours to find Cocks not guilty.

Recorder James House discharged Cocks from the dock and told him he was free to leave.

“You are a free man. You retain your good character,” Recorder House told Cocks.

The woman, who can not be named, had spent the day socialising with a friend but they became separated and she took a taxi home with Cocks, the jury heard.

Robert Underwood, prosecuting, had alleged the woman fled from Cocks’ property and began banging on neighbours’ doors because what happened to her was far from consensual.

But Cocks insisted he did not know why she had left his home.

Giving evidence Cocks told the jury he spent the afternoon drinking pints of larger at Pinchbeck cricket club and then went in to Spalding with friends at around 8.30pm.

Cocks said he visited the Punchbowl and then went for food after being turned away from Bentley’s bar because it was full.

The jury heard Cocks was going for a taxi with a friend when he came across the woman.

Cocks said the woman seemed “slightly distressed.” 

“I asked her if she was ok and we just started chatting from there,” Cocks said.

Cocks said he had never met the woman before and he assumed that she was drunk “as she was out and about in town.”

He estimated having drunk seven pints of larger, telling the jury: “I knew I had a drink, but I was coherent, I knew what I was doing.”

Cocks said the woman was also coherent and agreed to share a taxi with him and his friend.

Asked by defence barrister Jon Dee if he had any intention of having sex with the woman at that stage, Cocks replied: “No.”

During the journey home Cocks admitted he asked the woman back to his house for a coffee to see the new work he had carried out on his property.

Once inside the property Cocks said they eventually ended up sat next to each other. 

“I put my arm around her, not sexual, just to comfort her, and it led to a kiss,” Cocks said.

“She returned the affection.”

Cocks said the woman then took her sweat shirt off.

Asked if at any stage he got any inclination that the woman did not want it to happen, Cocks replied: “No.”

He added: “She was as happy as I was to.”

Asked by Mr Dee if he ever heard the word ‘No,’ Cocks again replied: “No.”

Cocks said the woman lifted her dress up and removed her underwear, and both performed oral sex on each other.

Asked if he believed the woman was consenting, Cocks replied: “Yes.”

When asked by Mr Dee what made him believe the woman was consenting, Cocks told the jury the woman had her legs wrapped around his waist, was playing with his hair and biting on his crucifix.

Cocks said he briefly stepped outside after the woman left “all of a sudden,” but he had no idea why.

“I wondered why she had left and saw she had left her underwear behind,” Cocks added.

“I decided to wait at the house in case she came back.”

The court heard Cocks has no previous convictions or cautions and works as a refrigeration engineer.

Cocks told the jury he was left in shock when police came to arrest him the next day as he was laying slabs for a relative.

Asked by Mr Dee if he thought for a second what happened the night before was rape, Cocks replied: “No.”

When asked by Mr Dee if he thought for one second what happened was without the woman’s consent, Cocks again replied: “No.”

Mr Dee finished his questions by asking Cocks if he raped the woman? Cocks again replied: “No.”

Blood alcohol tests showed the woman was more than double the drink-drive limit.

Under cross-examination Cocks denied that he made up his invitation to the woman to see his new house.

Cocks, of Orchard Close, Pinchbeck, denied a single charge of rape on May 29, 2021.