Man accused of putting finger in woman's bottom during sex and refusing to stop when she told him to, is cleared of sexual assault

A man has been cleared of sexual assault charges after he was accused of putting his finger in a woman’s anus during sex and refusing to stop when she told him to.

26-year-old Scott Howard, of Sowerby Bridge in England, had been accused of sexually assaulting the female while she was on top of him during sex in March last year. When he put his hand in her butt, she immediately told him to stop because it hurt but he didn't. The court previously heard that the pair had been drinking alone in the woman’s Huddersfield home after talking on Facebook.

But Scott was found not guilty of assault by penetration, prompting cheers from the public gallery at Leeds Crown Court as the verdict was read out. 

Opening the trial, Richard Woolfall, prosecuting, said: "She agreed to sexual intercourse with him. In doing that act, he then put his finger up her bottom. It was painful. She told him to stop."

Mr Woolfall said this went on for several minutes until the woman got off the defendant, asking him why he did not stop. In a video recording of the woman’s police interview, she claimed Scott immediately denied putting his finger in her and denied even having sex with her at all.

She said: "He was, like, trying to convince me that nothing had happened - that I was going totally crazy."

The woman also claimed that Scott told her he had recently ended a long-term relationship and had been trying to convince her to have sex for hours. She said she didn't want to have sex with him but she eventually got on top of him on the sofa, though she doesn't know why. She described herself as "quite easily influenced".

The woman, who had known Scott for years though they had never been in a relationship, said during cross-examination that she did not orgasm during sex with the defendant and they had only been having sex for about five minutes when it happened.

John Batchelor, defending, said: "But then your mood suddenly changed."

The woman replied: "When he inserted his finger and it hurt, yeah."

In tears, she added: "Normally when you are having sex you are supposed to stop if someone says no."

Mr Batchelor asked the woman if she had even accused Howard of rape afterwards, to which she replied that she could not remember.

He asked: "Did you feel at that point that you had simply let yourself down and felt used?"

"No," she replied.

Mr Batchelor said his client accepted having sex with the woman, but said the offence never happened.