However, the defence had a different story – one which fell upon that tired old “boys will be boys” narrative. They claimed that the woman at the centre of the case had made a false allegation of rape because she regretted consenting to group sex and feared that she may have been filmed, with the images then potentially ending up being posted on social media.

And, when Jackson took the stand, he alleged that the woman had followed him to his bedroom on two separate occasions for consensual sexual activity. Indeed, he repeatedly denied he had forced the girl to perform sex acts against her will.

Finally, on Wednesday 28 March, a verdict was delivered. After deliberating the case for three hours and 45 minutes, the jury of eight men and three women unanimously cleared Jackson and Olding of rape.

McIlroy and Harrison were also, similarly, found not guilty – McIlroy of exposure, and Harrison of perverting the course of justice and withholding information.

However, as stylist.co.uk’s Elle Griffiths previously pointed out, while the men denied any charges of rape, there were some facts that were never disputed by either legal team throughout the trial.

“The complainant, a teenager at the time, left the party in hysterical tears, bleeding profusely after a sexual encounter with two of the men,” points out Griffiths.

“A subsequent medical examination discovered her to have a tear in her vagina. The men exchanged joking messages in a WhatsApp group the next day, referring to her as ‘loose’ and a ‘slut’, while commending themselves for being ‘top shaggers’ and remarking that whatever happened that night was like ‘a merry-go-round at a carnival’.”

In sharp contrast to these jovial messages, though, comes those sent between the young woman and her friends in the hours after the alleged attack.

“Thing is I would report it if I knew they would get done. But they won’t,” one of the messages read, as reported by Irish News.

“And that’s just unnecessary stress for me. It’s also humiliating. It will be a case of my word against theirs, not like they have CCTV in their house and because there’s more of them they’ll all have the same fabricated story about me being some slut who was up for it. It will serve no purpose for me but be embarrassing.”

When asked by her friend about DNA evidence, the complainant answered: “They’ll say it was consensual. [That] I was up for it, [a] stupid little girl now regretting it.”

“Why #IBelieveHer is the only positive to be found in the Ulster rape verdict”