Robert Woolsey, Co Armagh Pre-TT racer on Isle of Man is cleared of rape charge

Robert Woolsey, 46, choked back his tears as a jury found him not guilty of the charges following a two-week trial at the Court of General Gaol Delivery in Douglas.

He had denied all charges.

The seven members of the jury took just three hours to return their unanimous not guilty verdicts.

Deemster Graeme Cook told him: ‘The jury have found you not guilty of all three counts. You are free to leave. Your character is unblemished.’

Mr Woolsey, of Arghory Road in Portadown, was visiting the Isle of Man to compete in the 2023 Pre-TT Races when the events that were the focus of the trial took place in the early hours of May 26.

He had completed four laps of the newcomers’ race on the Billown Circuit later that day when he was pulled over by police and arrested.

The court heard that the Woolsey had met the complainant at Bordello’s nightclub on Douglas seafront.

They left together when the venue closed around 3.30am and engaged in consensual sexual activity outside before ending up in a portable toilet in Walpole Avenue. The complainant alleged she had been too drunk to do anything and had just wanted to go home.

Prosecutor Kath Johnson told the jury that the Crown’s case was the the complainant had consented to sexual activity outside the portable toilet but once inside she withdrew her consent and the defendant had taken ‘taken advantage of her intoxicated state for his own gratification’.

When the complainant managed to get out of the portable toilet, she met a man on Strand Street who could see she was upset and persuaded her to make a complaint to the police, the court heard.

Mr Woolsey denied rape and insisted other sexual acts that had taken place in the portable toilet were consensual.

In his evidence, Mr Woolsey claimed the complainant must have spiked his drinks - an allegation she denied.

“She drugged me for her to have rough sex. She was into dark things,” he claimed. He said he felt he was the victim as the complainant had “taken advantage of me”.

Mr Woolsey said he had won £4,700 at the casino and had taken £700 of his winnings out with him to Bordello’s. He said he had given the complainant £50 to £60 to buy drinks for her friends.

Mr Woolsey told the jury he had a passion for riding classic motorbikes and had been clerk of the course for the Tandragee 100 in County Armagh for five years.

He debuted at the Manx Grand Prix in 2013 when he competed in the inaugural Classic TT and was awarded a TT replica, and was also finisher in a newcomers’ race that year.

The defendant said that since the events of May 2023, he had ‘given my life to the Lord’.

Mr Woolsey had worked for the family business supplying concrete products to the agricultural industry.

He told the jury that since his arrest he’d had to close the firm down and give all the workers redundancy packages. “Some of the lads were there 30-40 years. The company is going into liquidation. It’s a family decision,” he said.