Roseanna Cunningham: "People will be angry"

During the trial the woman said she had repeatedly asked Mr Watt to leave her room and had begged him to stop.

Mr Watt maintained that the woman had consented to sex.

Lord Abernethy agreed with a defence motion that Mr Watt had no case to answer.

He told the High Court in Aberdeen that to have sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent was not in itself rape and in this case there was no evidence of a degree or threat of force.

The woman burst into tears at the judge's decision and had to be comforted by her family and friends.

'Worrying precedent'

Roseanna Cunningham MSP said the ruling would perpetuate a myth and people would be angry and astonished.

She said: "Notwithstanding this particular judge's view of the law, I'd always understood the key element in rape was lack of consent.

"It'll come as a huge shock to women to be told that just saying no is viewed by this judge as insufficient.

"People will be surprised, astonished and angry at this pronouncement which reinforces the myth that a woman cannot have been raped unless she is on the receiving end of serious violence."

Len Murray: "I can totally understand the dismay of the complainer"

Len Murray told BBC Scotland: "The judge who presides over a case is there to tell the court, the jury and the whole world if you like, what the law is.

"Lord Abernethy very correctly said what the law is. I can totally understand the dismay of the complainer.

"It might be time for us to have a look and to remove the requirement that there be violence or a threat of violence if the charge is one of rape."

But Margaret Peatrie of the anti domestic violence campaign Zero Tolerance says she fears the verdict may set a worrying precedent.