RAF serviceman arrested in Majorca after a fellow British tourist accused him of raping her is freed from custody and allowed to fly home after ‘victim’ failed to ratify her complaint in court

A serving RAF serviceman arrested in Majorca after a British holidaymaker accused him of raping her at a four-star Magaluf hotel has been freed from custody and allowed to leave the island.

The 27-year-old was told he remains under investigation for the alleged sex attack in Magaluf and must respond to any future court summons.

But he was handed his passport back last night after being hauled before a judge in handcuffs following a night in a police cell – and told he could fly back to Britain after his female accuser failed to ratify her initial complaint in court.

He now faces several weeks and possibly months of uncertainty while he waits to see whether the case against him is dismissed and the investigating judge tries to ascertain whether the woman who accused him of forcing himself on her wants to make a new statement under oath.

News of the military man’s arrest emerged yesterday shortly before he was pictured arriving at court in the Majorcan capital Palma in the same clothes he was wearing when he was arrested on Monday at the island airport just before he boarded a flight back to the UK.

His female accuser, believed to have returned to Britain yesterday, told police he had forced himself on her at a hotel in Magaluf she was staying at after meeting up with her at a bar in the party resort a few hours earlier and spending time with her on the beach.

The alleged sex attack is said to have happened around 5am on Monday on a terrace at the hotel, which we are not naming to protect the identity of the 21-year-old woman who reported him to police.

She told detectives her aggressor had ripped her dress and forced her to perform a sex act on him before raping her.

Civil Guard officers are understood to have discovered the identity of the suspect hours after she filed a formal complaint.

They headed to Palma Airport to intercept him after discovering he had left the hotel where he was staying, which was different to the one where the alleged sex attack took place.

Yesterday’s court hearing took place behind closed doors, as is normal in Spain where only trials are held in public.

A source on the island described the British man as a serving member of the UK armed forces who was born abroad but lived in Britain and worked for the RAF.

Another said: ‘He was in Majorca on holiday with a group of rugby players who had come to the island to take part in an event.

‘He was arrested shortly before he boarded his flight back to the UK.’

The Brit’s lawyer is now expected to file a formal request to have the case dismissed.

No formal charges have yet been laid and a prosecution would be unlikely if the woman holidaymaker at the centre of the case decides against pressing charges.