Overview

• On day three at Teesside Crown Court, the judge withdrew the false imprisonment charge and the jury returned a formal not-guilty verdict on that count.
• Butters, 24, gave evidence saying he and the woman flirted in a bar and that any sexual activity in a layby was fully consensual.
• Earlier testimony detailed the complainant messaging her ex for help and sharing her phone location, which relatives used to try to find the car.
• A witness said she chased the vehicle and shouted for the woman to be let out before the car sped away, which Butters said he did in panic.
• Butters still faces charges of rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault, and causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and the trial continues.