Boxing champion Scott Fitzgerald found not guilty of rape after trial at Preston Crown Court

Boxing champion Scott Fitzgerald has been found not guilty of rape following a trial at Preston Crown Court.

Four years after being arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a woman in her home after an all-night drink and drugs session, the 32-year-old said outside court: “It’s been four years of hell. But my focus now is getting back in the ring - possibly as early as May.

"I’ve been in the gym training for the past three months and I’m just so glad this is over."

A jury took less than two hours to unanimously find Fitzgerald not guilty of rape - a charge he had been protesting his innocence since first being arrested in 2020.

The jury of five women and seven men at Preston heard they had a simple choice - who to believe over the alleged rape.

Judge Heather Lloyd told them that one of the parties was lying - the woman or Fitzgerald.

And after almost three days of evidence they took just 103 minutes to decide Fitzgerald had been telling the truth when he claimed the sex with the woman - in a bathroom just feet away from her sleeping children - had been consensual.

The boxer said she "did all the running" and had lured him upstairs and initiated intercourse.

Later she claimed she had consistently told him "no" but the jury did not believe her.

After being acquitted he told the Lancashire Post that his behaviour over the past four years "hasn't been good."

He was jailed for assaulting a man outside a pub and also faced other allegations of assault.

He was said at a previous court hearing to have had problems with both drink and recreational drugs.

But outside court he insisted those days were now behind him - he has been clean for more than a year and has been keeping himself in good physical shape.