A FORMER student who represented the University of York on BBC TV quiz show University Challenge has been cleared of raping another student.

Bartholomeo Joly de Lotbiniere, 22, sobbed in the dock with a handkerchief pressed to his eyes as the verdicts were read out at Bradford Crown Court today.

It was the second time he had stood trial on charges of rape and sexual assault. A jury at York Crown Court failed to reach verdicts in February this year

Mr Joly de Lotbiniere, who studied history, hugged his family in the public gallery before leaving the Bradford court room and declined to speak to reporters outside court.

The 22-year-old from Kendal Rise, London, had denied both charges.

He became a social media sensation as he appeared six times on University Challenge with the York team which reached the semi-finals in the 2016 series.

A tweet by Pointless host Richard Osman about his name prompted the woman to go to police.

She said when she saw it, she “just got angry and upset”.

She claimed Mr Joly de Lotbiniere had sex with her without consent in her campus accommodation more than a year earlier at the end of the 2013/2014 academic year.

Mr Joly de Lotbiniere denied raping the woman and told police “these are horrible, horrible lies”.

He described to the court how he and the woman were part of a group that had gone out drinking in York and had returned to the woman’s hall of residence in the early hours of the morning when the pair started to kiss.

He said he went to fetch a condom and then went into her room.

But as their consensual sexual activity progressed, he failed to get an erection.

He said: “There was no point going any further. We both just agreed to stop. I think she said ‘let’s just stop’.”

He said he was embarrassed by what happened and just wanted to leave.

Mr Joly de Lotbiniere denied the woman had tried to push him off or had shown any signs she did not want to have sex.

He said he later sent the woman a text saying he “did a very stupid thing” and was sorry because he was embarrassed about his failure to perform sexually. He said he had only had sex once before and had tried to portray himself to the woman as someone comfortable with a one-night-stand, when he was not.

The jury of seven women and five men took six hours to find Mr Joly de Lotbiniere not guilty.

Their verdicts ended an ordeal that began in spring 2016.