British man totally exonerated in the hostel rape case

‘I said all along I was innocent’: Nick Laycock (pictured after his arrest) has been cleared of raping an English backpacker in Camobodia after prosecutors were shown ‘overwhelming evidence’ of his innocence

A British man arrested for the alleged violent rape of a young English backpacker walked free from a Cambodian court today after prosecutors were shown ‘overwhelming evidence’ of his innocence. Nick Laycock, from Slough, spent two days locked in a grim prison cell in the Cambodian town of Kampot after he was arrested at a guest house where he has been working for the past six months.

The 25-year-old was held based on statements from the woman he was said to have raped and two young female witnesses. Speaking exclusively to MailOnline after his release, Mr Laycock said: ‘I’m greatly relieved – I said all along that I was innocent.’  Mr Laycock was arrested after the 22-year-old British backpacker he was accused of raping went to a local hospital in Kampot with two friends where they told doctors that they ‘believed’ the young woman had been raped.

This was because she had been seen walking towards the nearby river during the evening with Mr Laycock – but when she returned to the bar later she had a serious injury to her wrist as well as back injuries.