Benjamin Mendy not guilty of rape and attempted rape

The footballer faced a re-trial after a jury failed to reach verdicts on the charges

The former Manchester City and France international was accused of raping a 24-year-old woman in a bedroom at his multi-million-pound Cheshire home in October 2020.

He was also charged with the attempted rape of a 29-year-old woman at his home two years earlier.

Mendy, who had denied both charges saying the encounters were consensual, was found not guilty at Chester Crown Court on Friday.

Earlier this year the 28-year-old had been found not guilty of sexual offences against a number of women but the jury was unable to reach verdicts on the two charges.

During his retrial, prosecutors said that Mendy would host parties and gatherings at his home while under contract at Man City. They also heard that the former Monaco full back had met a British student in a nightclub in Barcelona in 2017 - whom he had become friends with and has arranged to meet the following year.

Following a night out, she alleged that Mendy tried to rape her.

He told the jury: "I asked her if we are OK to have sex. She told me, 'No' because of my friend. "I was like, 'It's fine, my friend says it's OK, so if you want, he's OK with that. It's when she started to be like that - upset, sad. I just left the room."

Two years later, Mendy met a woman who was out with friends near his home before inviting them back to his house. She claimed that Mendy had taken her phone and took her to a locked bedroom where he threw the phone on the bed before allegedly raping her.

Mr told the jury that the encounter was consensual and that the pair had later swapped details on Snapchat.

He was asked whether he had held her down or forced her on to the bed. He said: "No." Mendy then added that he would "never force to have sex with a woman."

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.