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CBC
A Royal Navy sailor has been cleared of taking part in a group sex attack on a woman at a military base in Canada.
Darren Smalley, 39, was accused with three fellow navy hockey team members of an assault in Nova Scotia, in 2015.
Mr Smalley, of Gosport, Hampshire, was cleared by a judge of sexual assault causing bodily harm and committing a sexual assault as part of a group.
Charges against two other sailors were dropped. The trial of Simon Radford, 34, also of Gosport, was put on hold.
Mr Radford's trial was postponed in September when he developed a "serious infection" but the charges can be tried within one year.
A written decision outlining Justice Patrick Duncan's reasons for clearing Mr Smalley will be released at a later date, a spokeswoman for the Nova Scotia Judiciary in Halifax said.
In court, Mr Duncan said the charges had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
"It is impossible to know where the truth begins and ends," he told Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
The woman civilian, in her 20s, was invited to the barracks in Shearwater after meeting a British sailor on the dating app Tinder, the court heard.
She said she felt "threatened" and "scared" after finding a naked man in a room full of cheering hockey players.
Later that night, she woke up face down and naked in a sailor's bed to find at least three men performing sex acts on her, the court heard.
"I didn't know what the hell was going on... I was in shock," she told the court.
A DNA sample taken from her underwear matched Mr Smalley, prosecutors said.
The men, who were representing the Royal Navy at a hockey tournament, were arrested six days after the incident.
A defence witness later told the court she had heard the woman say she was going to sleep with co-accused sailor, Mr Radford.
Charges against Craig Stoner, 28, of Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, and Joshua Finbow, 27, of Broughton, Hampshire, were dropped.