Four university students have been accused of gang-raping a female undergraduate.
Oxford Brookes University, one of Britain's leading sports centres, has suspended three of the four students after an internal investigation found there had been a breach of university regulations.
The university is now under the spotlight, as it is believed one of the accused students was admitted despite being under investigation in the United States over two allegations of rape by a female student.
One of them had their punishment reduced to a term's suspension on appeal and was told to write a letter of apology to the alleged victim. A fourth was given a written warning.
The alleged victim said she tried to dismiss the idea of group sex when raised by the men. She told The Times she left the room and when she returned, bottles of alcohol had been produced.
She said: "Suddenly the mood changed and it became less of a joke,' she told The Times.
"Rather, it was 'You've said this, you're all talk, you owe us, you promised this to us'. "I just kept saying 'I said that a week ago, I don't owe you anything'.
"They were like 'No, you owe us group sex, you've agreed to it, we have the proof'."
The men alleged the woman consented to group sex in earlier messages and had instigated the activity. Thames Valley Police started an investigation but this was later dropped without charges.
After police closed the case, Oxford Brookes's misconduct committee carried out its own investigation and found there had been a potential breach of student conduct relations relating to “sexual harassment, violence or abuse”.
The fourth student did not participate because he was not sure whether the woman had consented, Oxford Brookes's report found, and the university did not interpret any crime having been committed.
A spokesman for Oxford Brookes said: "Sexual violence and harassment has no place at Oxford Brookes. "We can confirm that in February 2018, the university received allegations relating to sexual violence involving a number of our students.
"These allegations were thoroughly investigated in accordance with the university's processes, appropriate liaison with the police took place and our internal conduct procedures were completed.
"Appropriate penalties, including the most severe penalties available to the university in relation to some of the students, were applied and were upheld on appeal. "We recognise the very distressing nature of the allegations."
