John Selder found not guilty on charges of rape, assault and making threats to kill

John Selder was on trial at Bournemouth Crown Court this week facing charges of rape, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and making threats to kill – offences said to have taken place in Bournemouth and Hampshire between August 2010 and December 2011.

However the jury of seven men and three women found the 32-year-old not guilty on six counts after two hours of deliberation, and were directed by the judge to reach the same verdict on the remaining charge.

Prosecutor David Jenkins told the court on Monday that Selder had forced the complainant to have sex against her will “about 20 to 30 times in all” and had also forced her to take part in oral sex “about 15 times”.

He was also said to have punched her and threatened her with a knife.

However the defendant, who is incarcerated at HMP Albany on the Isle of Wight, denied her claims when arrested, calling her a “scam artist”.

The court heard that the complainant had gone to the police after reading about Selder’s previous conviction, when Dorset Police said they anticipated more victims coming forward.

He was jailed for a decade in December last year after being found guilty of the attempted rape of a rough sleeper in the car park of the private Nuffield Health Hospital in Lansdowne Road last year.

The Dutch national had admitted two further offences committed in 2011 – the sexual assault of a teenage girl dragged off the street, and performing a sex act in front of a six-year-old child.

After Selder’s acquittal on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service said: “The decision to charge John Selder with these offences was made in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors.

“After hearing both the prosecution and the defence cases, the jury was not satisfied that Mr Selder was guilty of any offence and therefore acquitted him.

“We respect the jury’s decision in this matter, which was reached after careful consideration of all of the evidence.”