Royal Navy sailor from Gosport cleared of group sex attack in Canada

In this June 30, 2015 file photo, Darren Smalley, center, attends provincial court in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. The British sailor accused in an alleged gang rape at a Canadian military base has been acquitted. Picture: Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press via AP, File

Darren Smalley, 39, was charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm and participating in a sexual assault involving one or more people in Shearwater near Halifax, Nova Scotia, on April 10, 2015.

Justice Patrick Duncan delivered his verdict on Friday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court, saying the complainant's evidence was not credible.

The BBC reported Mr Duncan said: ‘It is impossible to know where the truth begins and ends.’

The trial of Simon Radford, 34, also of Gosport, was put on hold after he became unwell.

On Tinder, a woman and her friend met Mr Smalley and other members of a Royal Navy hockey team who were competing in a tournament in Halifax.

The complainant gave evidence at Mr Smalley's trial last autumn that she went to sleep next to a sailor, and later awoke face down and naked as at least three men sexually assaulted her.

Cases against Craig Stoner, 28, of Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, and Joshua Finbow, 27, of Broughton, were stopped.