Failed asylum seeker cleared of raping woman

A 24-year-old Egyptian national has been found not guilty of raping a woman in a wooded area in Bournemouth.

Mohammed Fathi Eltbie, of no fixed abode, had stood trial at Bournemouth Crown Court over the alleged attack on the woman aged in her 30s on 5 November.

The complainant alleged Eltbie had raped her after she changed her mind and refused to perform a sex act on him after having agreed to do so for money.

But Eltbie said the sex was consensual and she only became angry when he gave her his bank card instead of cash. A previous hearing was told he had been refused asylum in January 2025 having entered the UK in July 2023, meaning his asylum status was "uncertain" at the time.