Man, 27 is cleared of raping girl
A man has been cleared of a rape charge at the direction of the judge.
A jury at Mold Crown Court formally found John Michael McGrath not guilty.
He was one of four men who have been on trial for the last two weeks when the prosecution allege that two girls in care were trafficked and raped.
John Michael McGrath, 27, of Bryn Hedd, Southsea, Wrexham, faced one charge of raping a girl aged under 16 years between 2011 and 2012, which he denied.
He was formally found not guilty following legal arguments.
Judge Rhys Rowlands told the jury that he had been asked by barrister Phillip Tully to consider whether, as a matter of law, it would be possible for the jury to return a verdict of guilty against his client McGrath on the single count against him.
“I have been persuaded as a matter of law that it would simply not be open to you to return a guilty verdict in his case,” the judge explained.
The jury returned a formal not guilty verdict at his direction.
The trial continues against John James Purcell, John Anthony Delaney and Todd James Wickens, who deny all charges against them.
Delaney, 33, of Ruthin Road Caravan Park, Wrexham, faces four counts of rape of a girl under 16, four counts of trafficking women within the UK for sexual exploitation, the sexual assault of a girl aged under 16 years and arranging the commission of a child sex offence.
John James Purcell, 31, of Crescent Road in Ellesmere Port, faces three charges of rape, four charges of trafficking and one of arranging a child sex offence.
Wickens, 28, of Homestead Lane, Wrexham, faces two charges of raping a girl aged under 16 years, and one charge of trafficking a female for sexual exploitation.
The prosecution say that two girls in care were taken advantage of sexually by a group of men who gave them alcohol in hotel rooms.
They were deliberately taken to hotels and other men were called when they were drunk in order to have sex with them, it was claimed.
The girls had been groomed and were used for the sexual gratification of the defendants and others, alleged prosecuting barrister John Philpotts.
The case continues.
