‘It felt like it was plucked out of thin air’: how rape trial was derailed by sexsomnia claim

Three years on from a decision to drop the prosecution of her alleged rapist, Jade McCrossen-Nethercott received a payout from the CPS, which said the defence should have been challenged in court

Thirteen days before her alleged rapist was due to stand trial, Jade McCrossen-Nethercott received devastating news. After three years of waiting, the Crown Prosecution Service was abandoning the case.

It was not for lack of evidence. After the alleged attack, McCrossen-Nethercott had gone straight to the police, who took her clothes, phone, and swabbed her head to toe". Then there was her broken necklace, the marks on her arms, the no-comment interview the suspect gave after he was arrested and the allegation that a drink he gave her had tasted strange.