A senior judge has criticised police and prosecutors after a young farmer spent three years under investigation and on bail wrongly accused of rape.Luke Winward, then 20, was arrested in June 2023 after his accuser discovered he had secretly filmed a sexual encounter on fields before showing the footage to two of his friends.The film was seized by police as evidence and Winward was charged by prosecutors 17 months later with three allegations of rape and one of sexual assault.He was then bailed pending trial and faced a lengthy stretch behind bars if convicted.But the rape and sexual assault charges were thrown out on Thursday at Chester Crown Court after Judge Steven Everett, who watched the footage himself ahead of a possible trial, concluded the woman had ‘clearly consented to sex’.Judge Everett, Recorder of Chester, instead ordered Winward, now 23, who works for his family's dairy farm in the village of Tarvin, near Chester, to complete 120 hours of unpaid work and 20 days of rehabilitation activity after he admitted disclosing private sexual images.As Winward's mother and girlfriend watched from the public gallery, Judge Everett said: ‘The prosecution do not come out of this with any favour at all.‘It took the police and the Crown Prosecution Service between them, regrettably, 17 months to bring charges and that was unacceptable, a delay that should never have taken place. It is important to note there was no evidence of sexual assault. Social media footage of Luke Winward whose defence said has 'well and truly paid the price'‘In truth the footage as I have had to look at it clearly shows the prosecution decision was totally without merit, whatsoever.‘For reasons that utterly escape me, the prosecution decided to proceed with those charges.‘There was no justification for it. You were rightly prosecuted for disclosing the images but wrongly prosecuted for sex offences.’Turning to Winward himself, the judge said: ‘There is no evidence you are a sex offender. At that time you were still a young man who was only young and your utter immaturity made you do something that I know three years down the line you bitterly regret.‘You went to a party where there were a lot of young people present. You and the complainant then went to a field outside the party and you had consensual sexual contact.’But Judge Everett gave a stinging criticism of Winward’s behaviour with the footage.He said: ‘The evidence in reality came from you because, disgracefully, you videoed what took place between you. In one sense that is very much against you and in another sense it assists you. ‘When I saw the videos it was patently obvious what took place was consented to.‘What this young woman did not consent to was firstly, she did not know you were videoing her and secondly you disclosed the images. Luke Winward waited three years for the rape and sexual assault charges to be dropped'I recognise you were in drink but undoubtedly she was upset by that and it would have been humiliating for her.‘Subsequently she made a complaint.’Judge Everett added: ''Goodness knows why you decided to film this act but sadly it is not the first time I have come across this sort of behaviour. 'Social media may have to take some blame for young people doing this sort of thing without giving thought to it - but here are the consequences. Here you are nearly three years later waiting for sentence.’The court heard the incident occurred when Winward and the woman who cannot be named attended the party at a village on the outskirts of Chester.Prosecutor Myles Wilson said: ‘They had sexual activity together and he recorded that with his phone. 'It seems he showed people at the party and the victim could see him doing that. 'A male looked over at her and did an impression of what she had just been doing. Luke Winward outside Chester Crown Court where he was sentenced for sharing the footage‘Certainly the defendant sent to two people recordings that night and the victim reported it to police. He denied in interview he shared the videos but obviously the police seized his phone and found the evidence.’No victim personal statement was read to the court.In mitigation defence barrister Owen Edwards KC, said: ‘It is obvious this was a crass decision, sure to cause offence, when drunk, in circumstances where frankly everyone can understand why it was inappropriate.‘But he has had an awful lot of time to dwell upon that and consider it. He is someone who had to go to his partner's mother and explain ‘This is what I did’ and he really has had to live with the shame. He has well and truly paid the price.’