Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy has been found not guilty of the rape of a 19-year-old woman on the direction of a judge presiding over his trial for multiple alleged sexual offences.

His co-accused, Louis Saha Matturie, 41, was also cleared of two counts of rape and one of sexual assault against the same woman after the prosecution offered no further evidence against the defendants on those four counts.

Judge Stephen Everett warned jurors at Chester Crown Court, in northwest England, not to speculate as to why the prosecution had decided not to pursue guilty verdicts on those charges and to continue to “faithfully” try the defendants on the charges they still face.

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