Retrial For Accused "Can I Have A Go?" Rapist

A homeless passer-by, accused of raping an A-Level art student after asking: “Can I have a go?” has learned he will face a re-trial on the charge .

Rough sleeper Wesley Roden, 33, will return to Southwark Crown Court on June 10, next year to fight the allegation.

An eleven-strong jury failed to reach a majority 10-1 verdict either way after a week-long trial.

The complainant, who was 18 years-old at the time, told the trial she was being raped by a mystery male in Victoria Embankment Gardens, Charing Cross when Roden arrived on the scene.

She had gone to the West End with three female friends and after drinking a large quantity of alcohol and consuming drugs ended up in the small secure park with an unknown man she met in nearby Heaven nightclub in the early hours of August 16, 2019.

Roden, of Museum Street, Warrington told police he had consensual intercourse with the student after stumbling upon the pair having sex on the grass.

After one juror was discharged during the trial the remaining eleven members confirmed not even a majority verdict of ten of them was a prospect and Recorder Tom Forster KC announced: “I don’t have any option but to discharge the jury in this case.

“You have all done your best and you should be proud of yourselves,” he told them. “Thank-you for your time, energy and concentration.”