A BRITAIN’S Got Talent finalist wept today as he was found not guilty of pinning down and raping two women.
Andrew Johnston, 30, allegedly grabbed the women by the throat during sex and refused to wear a condom.
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The former choirboy was 13 when he finished third on the second series of the ITV talent show in 2008.
Johnston received a £1million record deal with Simon Cowell’s Syco Music record label and his album ‘One Voice’ made it to number five in the UK Chart.
The alleged offences happened a number of years later while he was studying opera at the Royal Academy of Music.
Johnston has now been found not guilty of two charges of rape and one of sexual assault.
He sobbed as the verdict was delivered and told jurors: “Thank you, thank you”.
Southwark Crown Court was told during the first alleged attack, Johnston removed a condom during sex – causing his victim to beg him to stop.
Despite her pleas, he was accused of carrying on and grabbing her throat while pinning her down.
He also “became more forceful” and slammed the headboard into the wall as the woman began “panicking”, jurors were told.
During her evidence, she claimed she felt forced to stay over at Johnston’s home because she was too scared to leave.
She said: “It was difficult to me. I felt frozen and stuck in place.
“I felt trapped and like I couldn’t move. I felt stuck and anxious.”
Following the alleged attack, the woman bumped into Johnston on a night out where he groped her bottom and refused to leave, it was said.
Jurors were told he then grabbed her by the shoulders and verbally abused her before “forcibly” kissing the woman.
The court heard the second woman was allegedly attacked three months later after Johnston took her to a “sex club” in London.
She told the singer to wear a condom, which Johnston was accused of removing during intercourse.
Maryam Syed, prosecuting, said: “She described how she started to feel the defendant’s hands around her neck, and no matter how many times she removed them, she said the defendant Mr Johnston kept on putting his hands back around her throat.
“She made, she told police, multiple attempts to remove his hands but he did not remove them.”
Johnston accused both women of telling “a pack of lies” in his own evidence.
The singer described his style of sex as “fast, energetic, maybe a bit passionate” but told the jury he was never aggressive, always used a condom and that the sex was consensual.
Johnston also told jurors he has “never sung a note” since the allegations were made against him.
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