Chef haunted by rape accusation

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/kent/7993677.stm

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A chef who was cleared of raping a woman too drunk to remember the night says he is thinking of changing his name despite being found innocent.

Peter Bacon, 26, was cleared last month of rape at Winchester Crown Court after a 13-month "nightmare".

In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, he said that despite being cleared, he felt people were judging him.

"You just want to be invisible, to not have to look anyone else in the eye again," he said.

Mr Bacon, the woman and a friend had drunk about five bottles of wine over an evening before the friend left, leaving Mr Bacon and the woman alone.

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Mr Bacon, from Kent, told the court she performed a sex act on him and the pair then had intercourse.

The woman said she did not remember any of these events and because she could not remember, she could not have been capable of consenting to sex.

However, the judge told the jury that the argument was "completely wrong".

Mr Bacon told the Victoria Derbyshire show it had been "just a social evening".

"I went over and over it. I questioned myself but I never felt I'd taken advantage of her.

"It was completely reciprocal. We were flirting with each other."

The woman told 5 Live in an earlier interview that she was "convinced" she would not have consented to sex.

Mr Bacon said: "If she believes she was raped, that's dreadful for her, I'm sorry. But I didn't rape her. I didn't take advantage of her."

He said the experience had made him consider leaving his home town and changing his name.

"It's a horrible thing to be accused of. The shame of it personally, just to think that there's one person who thinks you're capable of that. It's absolutely horrible."