Navy Officer Cleared Of Raping Sailor After Naked Lap Dance

A Royal Navy officer has been cleared of raping a female sailor twice after a court heard she performed a naked lap dance for him before they had sex in her hotel room.

Lieutenant Nicholas Robinson went back to the woman's room after a party attended by a large number of military personnel, where she offered him a dance as they drank wine together.

She gave him two lap dances and during the second she stripped naked, rubbed her breasts in his face and licked him through his underwear before they had sex on her bed. Lt Robinson told the court:

"She was taking the lead during what happened between us. She was running her hands through my hair and gyrating on me." 

"In the end, she stopped with her face just inches from mine as if she was going to kiss me, but she didn't.

"She was enjoying what she was doing, she enjoyed turning me on with the dance."

Lt Robinson said the woman then told him of a 'special dance' which men at lap dancing clubs would pay extra to have performed in a separate room and offered to do one for him.

He added: "I was in my underwear and it was a lot more physical than the previous dance.

"She was rubbing herself on me, rubbing her breasts in my face, she went down on her knees and traced round the outline of my penis through my underwear with her tongue."

"Then she leant back and began masturbating in front of me.

"We then moved on to the bed and had sex with each other. At no point did she say no or ask me to stop."

When the pair woke in the morning they had sex a second time before he left the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bahrain and returned to his frigate, which was docked at theisland.

Lt Robinson had been accused of pinning the woman to the bed and attacking her before they both fell asleep. She claimed she awoke to find him raping her again in the morning.

The female sailor also told a court martial she had only performed the dances because Lt Robinson had been pestering her and she hoped it would stop him from making any further sexual advances.

However, he denied three counts of rape and one count of sexual assault by penetration - instead saying the woman had 'taken the lead' as she enjoyed 'turning him on'.

Today a board of senior officers at Portsmouth Military Court, Hants, cleared Lt Robinson of all four charges, after deliberating for one and a half hours.

During a five-day trial the board heard the pair ended up in her hotel room after the party.

Lt Robinson, who is usually based at Abbey Wood, Bristol, had intended to return to his warship but instead decided to go to an after-party in the Radisson Blu, where she was staying.

After calling the ship from her room, they began chatting while sat on the edge of her bed, and she offered to give him a lap dance.

The court heard the female sailor put on music on her laptop before beginning to dance for Lt Robinson.

During the first dance, which he said lasted between 10 and 15 minutes, she removed his waistcoat and shirt and took all her clothes off except her knickers.

The prosecution claimed the woman had told Lt Robinson to stop a number of times and the sex had not been consensual - with the pair having discussed bondage beforehand.

But Lt Robinson said they had not never discussed safe words or bondage sex and that the female sailor had been a willing participant both times they had sex and when he performed oral sex on her in the morning.

Courtesy of Solent News and Photo Agency.