A DETECTIVE has been criticised for putting a young man from Kelvedon and three others through two years of "living hell", after the rape case against them collapsed.

Patrick Foster, 22, of Maldon Road, Kelvedon, was cleared of one charge of rape and two charges of assault by penetration, relating to an incident at the end-of-year ball at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, Gloucestershire in May 2014.

Detective Constable Ben Lewis, of Gloucestershire Police, was accused of "stark errors" in his handling of the investigation, where Mr Foster was charged alongside fellow students, Thady Duff and Leo Mahon, both 22, and James Martin, 20.

They had been accused of the gang rape of a young woman at the annual college ball after the complainant alleged she had been raped and subjected to violence, including strangulation, and some of it had been filmed and shared for others to watch.

The trial had been due to begin at Gloucester Crown Court last month but following delays due to the late disclosure of evidence and a review of the case, the prosecution offered no evidence and the four defendants were cleared.

The police, and in particular Det Con Lewis, have been accused of "cherry picking" supportive evidence and "airbrushing out of the picture" anything that could have helped the four men.

This included text messages sent by the complainant in the hours after the alleged incident and a conversation with a friend about what would happen if the video became common knowledge.

It emerged as the trial was due to begin that police failed to disclose that the complainant was a witness to an alleged rape on an Army base in October 2014 and there were inconsistencies in her evidence. The accused was a soldier and he was cleared at a court martial.

Mr Duff, Mr Mahon and Mr Foster returned to court this week to apply for a proportion of their legal costs to be paid by the prosecution.

They have been left with large legal bills after hiring three QCs - including two well-known barristers involved in the Ched Evans rape case - to lead the fight to clear their names.

Eleanor Laws QC, representing the three applicants, criticised police for not fully downloading data from the complainant's mobile phone, which was only done by an expert instructed by the defence after the trial had been due to start.

She told Judge Jamie Tabor QC that text messages sent after the alleged incident undermined the prosecution case as the complainant discussed "mundane things".

She also said it had been "unadvisable" for Det Con Lewis to take on the dual roles of investigator and disclosure officer, which Judge Tabor noted would be "unthinkable" in a major inquiry.

Miss Laws added: "If the level of contact that took place between the complainant and the officer in the case was highly unusual, it was not against the rules.

"In my experience it is unusual. He was feeding the complainant information she should not have had.

"He must have realised there was a real danger of cross-contamination because he was discussing with her that she should talk to other witnesses about giving statements.

"In the end there was one witness who came very close to supporting what she said happened - and she was very close to the complainant.

"He failed to disclose matters that undermined the complainant's credibility. He failed to disclose material that undermined the prosecution case and assist the defence.

"This material taken together was so significant that in my submission there have been clearly stark errors in relation to matters that were taken into account in offering no evidence."

Miss Laws said the decision to end the prosecution should have been taken a "long time ago".

"There have been a series of stark errors in relation to the telephone and the Royal Military Police material and there are four young men whose lives have been on hold.

"It has been a living hell. It would have been a complete travesty. They are all innocent men.

"They showed the video of a consensual incident and of course we know that happened in relation to the complainant and another man and she got upset by it and he wasn't waiting two years for a trial.

"Yes, their behaviour is bad in showing what they thought was consensual but no-one suggests they deserved what followed.

"It was a false allegation that remained for two years without proper scrutiny from the officer in the case."

She said Mr Foster, Mr Duff, of Blunsdon, Swindon, and Mr Mahon, of Cirencester, had been suspended by the university as soon as the allegations were made and their studies remained on hold.

Fiona Elder, for the prosecution, said the decision to offer no evidence was for "cumulative reasons" and a result of lack of disclosure or further disclosure or of "bad faith" on the part of the police.

Judge Tabor will give his ruling on the costs application at a later date.