NORTH Yorkshire's chief crown prosecutor has weighed into the debate over a controversial rape trial.

Phillip Nicholas was formally found not guilty of rape at York Crown Court this week when his alleged victim said she could not bear to give evidence for a third time.

Two previous trials had been halted because of mistakes by jurors and witnesses.

Robert Turnbull, chief crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service in North Yorkshire, said the outcome was tragic for the 27- year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Mr Turnbull said: "The system collectively failed this woman and if there are lessons to be learnt we will try and learn them.

"But there was no lack of care on behalf of the prosecution or defence barristers.

"We hoped to run the case a third time, but we had to take into account the wishes of the complainant in view of what she had gone through previously."

The rape trial was stopped last year when a prosecution witness revealed that Mr Nicholas, a heroin addict, had a previous conviction.

A retrial was abandoned when it emerged that some members of the jury had not joined in the deliberations over a verdict because they were watching darts on television.