Anonymous UK 'Leader' Malcolm Blackman Cleared of Occupy St Paul's Rape

A self-proclaimed leader of hactivist group Anonymous UK has been cleared of raping a woman during the Occupy protests at St Paul's last year.

Malcolm Blackman, 45, was accused of raping a woman twice at the Occupy campsite outside St Paul's cathedral in January 2012.

The woman claimed Blackman raped her when she was passed out drunk in her tent, and again after tying her hands behind her back using cable ties.

Blackman, of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, denied the accusations during the trial and described them as "complete fabrication".

After being found not guilty at the Old Bailey, Blackman said: "There was never any evidence of crime".

During the trial, Gordon Ross, defending, claimed Blackman's accuser had invented the allegations because she wanted to "take him down".

"Effectively, what you and others were trying to do was destroy him and his leadership of Anonymous UK," he said.

'No strings'

Blackman had a "casual, no strings" relationship with the woman before she accused him of raping her.

During the trial, the court heard how the accuser became angry at Blackman after she discovered he had a "tally mark" on his tent indicating the number of women he had slept with at the Occupy St Paul's campsite.

Blackman told the police during an interview following his arrest that the tally started "as a joke with other men".

The accuser, who cannot be named, was living at home in south London during the week, and sleeping in her Occupy tent at weekends.

Blackman also claimed his accuser assaulted him and another woman at the Occupy campsite when she found out he was in a relationship with her.

Blackman was seen as a spokesperson for the Occupy movement during the protests outside St Paul's in 2011, which were eventually quelled by police in February 2012.

The collective Anonymous UK is a branch of the Anonymous movement, which launches cyber-attacks on websites.

Anonymous UK has said Blackman was never a part of the group.