A Scots aristocrat has been cleared of sexually assaulting a visitor at a birthday bash held at his household’s 22-bedroom mansion after a not confirmed verdict.
Euan Tennant, 39, was on trial accused of the alleged assault on a lady in her mid-20s in a “large” 4 poster mattress.
The lady instructed how she was sharing the mattress with a feminine pal once they gave permission to Tennant to sleep beside them.
She stated Tennant ran his hand up her leg, leaving her “frozen”, earlier than sexually assaulting her.
Giving proof on Wednesday, Tennant stated he believed the lady had given her consent.
The jury at Edinburgh Sheriff Courtroom returned a not confirmed verdict by majority on Thursday afternoon.
Tennant, whose grandparents have been confidantes of Princess Margaret, the Queen’s late sister, walked free from the dock in seen reduction.
Requested to touch upon the decision exterior the courtroom, Tennant stated: “I hope everybody can transfer on with their lives in a significant and fulfilling approach.”
Tennant had denied a cost of sexual assault and lodged a particular defence of consent.
His accuser instructed the courtroom on Tuesday how she, her pal and Tennant had chatted about consent in sexual issues at Glen Home, close to Innerleithen, within the Scottish Borders.
The lady, who had a boyfriend, stated Tennant and her pal snorted cocaine, however she didn’t have any, and so they have been “chatting and having a pleasant time”.
She instructed how she’d been invited to a two-night keep at Glen Home to have a good time Tennant’s birthday by a mutual good friend.
They gave permission for Tennant to get on the mattress as they talked for round 90 minutes, the courtroom heard, and Tennant requested if he may sleep there over the covers.
The lady stated: “We didn’t see any drawback with that. We’d had these conversations about consent. I thought-about myself secure round him.”
Tennant requested if he may “take his trousers off and get beneath the covers”, she stated, and so they “each stated sure”.
After the lights have been off and her pal was asleep, she described feeling Tennant “stroking my knee” then touching her thigh for various minutes earlier than he sexually assaulted her.
She stated: “I used to be considering, what the hell is he doing? I didn’t wish to say or do something as a result of I didn’t need (my good friend) to know what he was doing to me.”
She stated she was “frozen” and lay nonetheless, hoping he would cease.
The lady jumped up when he pal went to the lavatory, the courtroom heard, and was crying quietly. She stated Tennant instructed her, ‘Sorry that I offended you’, however began touching her leg once more when the three have been again in mattress.
She ran from the bed room whereas Tennant, who was initially bare, adopted her out, the trial heard.
The lady stated her good friend wakened, noticed she was upset, and the pair left in a taxi at round 5am following the alleged incident on July 27 2019.
In his proof, Tennant stated he’d touched the again of the lady’s knee within the mattress.
He stated the lady hadn’t moved to movement him away so he took that as a “inexperienced” mild to proceed.
Tennant’s late grandfather, Colin Tennant, the third Baron Glenconner, as soon as owned Mustique and hosted Princess Margaret and different celebrities with lavish events on the Caribbean island.