A wealthy company director’s son walked free from court and into the arms of his delighted mother, after being cleared of raping a teenage girl and sexually assaulting her friend during a sleep-over at a teenage house party.

Charlie Walker, 20, of The Street, Dockenfield, Surrey, was acquitted by a jury at Guildford Crown Court, last Wednesday, of two charges of rape and one of assault by penetration.

There were gasps of relief from his family in the public gallery when he was told by Judge Neil Stewart that he was free to leave the dock.

Mr Walker, a former Alton College student and now training to become a carpenter, had denied all three counts during a lengthy trial.

Witnesses told jurors how the two complainants had been drinking, flirty and loud - and had offered fellow guests three-in-a-bed sex romps - at the luxury mansion in Waverley Lane, Farnham, where the upmarket party was held on May 12 last year.

Mr Walker said: “I heard they were offering up threesomes.”

He also told the court that the acts were consensual, and that one of the girls had given him permission to get into bed with her, and the other had pulled him on top of her.

The accused man’s father Ian Walker, 52, director of interior design specialist Walker & Walker Ltd, of High Street, Odiham, and mother Louise Walker, company secretary of the 29-year-old firm which has a £354,697 turnover, have been at the court in Guildford to support their son.

Prosecuting counsel Toyin Salako said that both girls, who were among the 40 guests, had “dossed down” for the night in one of the bedrooms at 1am.

But at around 5am one of the girls woke up to discover Walker had his hands inside her pants and was touching her, she said.

Ms Salako said the girl immediately swore at him, telling him to leave her alone and turned away, hoping that he would leave.

But, the complainant then alleged she heard panting noises, the prosecutor said.

The prosecuting counsel said: “She crawled under the covers to get out of bed and left the room, not thinking that her friend, who was still asleep, was in any sort of danger.”

After the first girl, who had said the behaviour “really freaked me out”, left the room, Walker turned his attention to the other sleeping female, it was alleged.

But she awoke shortly afterwards to find him having sex with her, said Ms Salako.
 
Jurors were told that the second girl rolled away and tried to grab her nightclothes, which had been removed as she slept but, as she attempted to pass Walker, he grabbed her head and forced her to perform a sex act on him.

She left the room and locked herself in the toilet for several hours.

The jury heard that after returning home, the girls called a helpline for advice and, later that day, went to the police station to lodge a complaint against the defendant.

Ms Salako added: “Neither of the girls gave permission to Charlie Walker to enter the room that they were sleeping in.

“They did not give permission to enter the bed they were sleeping in.

“They did not give consent to him removing their clothes or touching them.

“They did not give consent to any sexual activity whatsoever.”

Walker, who had been in a relationship with a friend of the two teens, admitted having sex with one of the girls and engaging in sexual activity with the other.

But, under cross-examination, he insisted that the acts were consensual and happened more than once throughout the evening.

Walker, who was working at The Exchange pub in Farnham at the time of the incidents, said that one of the girls had given him permission to climb into bed with her while the other girl was still asleep.
He said he performed a sex act on one of the girls while he was having sex with the other girl. “The (second) girl pulled me on top of her,” he said.

Giving evidence for the defence, fellow guest Mike Humphries, a chef at The Exchange pub, said both girls had been drinking. “They were quite flirty with everyone and quite loud,” he said.

The jury took just 45 minutes of deliberation to come back with a not guily verdict.