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Ex-police officer cleared of rape Ex-police officer cleared of rape
(about 1 hour later)
A former North Wales Police detective has been cleared of raping two women. A former North Wales Police officer has been cleared of raping two women.
Timothy Jones, 37, of Rhyl, Denbighshire, had denied the three charges against the women, who alleged he had abused his position.Timothy Jones, 37, of Rhyl, Denbighshire, had denied the three charges against the women, who alleged he had abused his position.
One woman claimed he raped her in a police station and the other as he investigated a burglary at a bedsit.One woman claimed he raped her in a police station and the other as he investigated a burglary at a bedsit.
The jury at Mold Crown Court was sent out on Wednesday and returned with their verdict on Thursday afternoon. More to follow. After the verdict was delivered, a woman cried out "thank you" to the jury who had been deliberating for nearly six hours at Mold Crown Court.
The woman, who was in the public gallery, could later be heard sobbing after Mr Jones was discharged from the dock by Judge Dafydd Hughes.
The defendant, at the time a trainee detective with North Wales Police, left court quickly with family and a group of friends and refused to comment on the case.
During his trial, the former police officer - who is married to his second wife and who has a nine-year-old son by his first - admitted he would flirt with women he met in the line of duty but said the rape allegations were "plain fantasy".
The prosecution claimed that he targeted two vulnerable women with drugs and alcohol problems and with previous convictions, telling them that no one would believe "a con over a cop".
The court heard claims he attacked one woman, a heroin addict, after she was called to St Asaph police station in Denbighshire in August 2006 to discuss her complaint about a separate rape.
A second claim was made that he raped a woman in her bedsit after she had made a complaint to police.
Disciplinary proceedings
Police had launched an investigation into Mr Jones's activities following a complaint from a woman he had flirted with at the police station.
The court heard he went to her home and was later cleared of sexually assaulting her after he claimed that what went on was with consent.
Mr Jones resigned from North Wales Police in April 2008 ahead of disciplinary proceedings following that incident.
Senior police decided that checks should be made on all women he had contact with during the course of his police work.
They trawled through his phone numbers and it was then that the rape allegations were made.
Mr Jones admitted that he had an interest in porn and said that the way he had dealt with some of the women he encountered "was no way for a police officer to behave".
But he denied the rape claims and said he was not sexually attracted to the complainants.
The court heard he could not even remember the woman who said that she had been raped in the police station and could not remember being alone with her.
After the case, a North Wales Police spokesperson said: "The case has been presented to the court over the past week and a half and the jury has today returned its verdict."