Flatmates cleared of raping man after night out

A former teacher and his friend have been cleared of raping a 19-year-old man near Brighton seafront.

George Ellis and Mark Lett wept in the dock as they were both found not guilty of raping the man, who they met after Christmas drinks in the city on 21 December, 2024.

A jury at Hove Crown Court took 41 minutes to return the verdict following a week-long trial.

Lett, 43, of Chessington, south-west London, and Ellis, 41, of Esher, in Surrey, maintained that the sexual encounter between the three men in a seafront shelter and basement stairwell had been consensual.

Ellis, a former PE teacher, said he remained clothed throughout the encounter, which began at about 03:30 GMT and ended when the 19-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, began to fight the two men and say Ellis and Lett had raped him.

Ellis and Lett, who were flatmates at the time, had traveled to Brighton for Christmas drinks and had booked a hotel in the city.

Both men were also acquitted of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, while assault charges against the pair were earlier thrown out.

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