Cambridge University lecturer cleared of fiancée assault vows to be 'more cautious' dating

A Cambridge lecturer who was cleared of assaulting
his ex-fiancée in a vicious attack has blasted her
"cruel and unfeeling lie".
Matthew Grant Baron, 26, is now looking forward to
getting his life back after being put through hell during
an ordeal which nearly cost him his job and his
friends.
Sophia Cooke, who proposed to Matthew after just
three months of dating, accused him of assaulting her
and gouging her eyes out after confessing to
cheating.
Matthew, a PhD student in earth science, told the
court she made up the claim as a way of explaining
to her parents why their wedding had been called off.
He was cleared of assault after magistrates sided
with his “credible and consistent” version of events.
But he was found guilty of criminal damage after
admitting hitting his fiancée ’s car radio in a moment
of anger during the argument.
But he said that he would not let the ordeal, which
left him ostracised by some fellow academics, stop
him seeking love.
"I'm going to see dating completely differently now,"
he said. "I'm going to be a lot more cautious, but I
hope that doesn't make me cynical.
"I have seen people since Sophia and I split, only as
small, short term things, but I'm not seeing anyone
right now.
"Whenever things are going well with a girl, if they
give me their number in the first ten minutes of
meeting them, I'm like, 'Wait, why are you being so
nice to me?'"
Matthew also told the Cambridge News of his
reaction the first time he saw Sophia, 26, the day
after the court case.
He spotted walking through the centre of Cambridge,
short distance from the flat they shared at Christ's
College.
He said: "My heart did skip a beat, but totally different
to how it did before - this time, I knew I could hold my
head high, I had been completely vindicated, I was
innocent.
"I was basically on a small street in Cambridge with
my dad and she walked past with her friend.
"They definitely saw both of us and pretended to be
laughing and joking, they pretended they didn't see us
at all.
"I'm not worried about seeing her again because I'm
innocent, at the moment I have to focus on my exams
and completing my PhD."
Sophia, a zoology student at Cambridge, proposed to
Matt three months into their relationship, on a trip to
meet his father for the first time in Dubai.
She confessed to cheating on him several months
after, when she returned from her research trip to the
Galapagos Islands.
Matthew said: "I did feel anger at first, I felt awful
and it was a terrible feeling.
"I really loved her and cared for her, I wanted to
spend my life with her and was ready to do that.
"My parents said the red flags were there all along,
from the way they heard us argue.
"Of course, everyone argues, all couples do - and I
wouldn't listen to my parents when they said how
unpleasant she could be, yes, love is blind."
Sophia claimed that Matthew was livid after she
confessed her infidelity to Matthew on their romantic
getaway.
She accused him of physically assaulting her, gouging
her eyes and destroying her car stereo in a fit of rage.
Matthew was later banned from his own
accommodation and college while awaiting the court
case.
He added: "I don't blame the college at all for
banning me, it was horrible but they worked hard to
protect both of us and I'm not angry with them.
"I wasn't allowed back into the college, and I wasn't
allowed into my student flat, because it was a
'designated safe space' for Sophia."
Matthew described the night that he was arrested, a
few days after Sophia's confession.
"At 5.30am (February 15) , my buzzer rang at my flat.
We have a television intercom system thing and I
could see two police officers, both male, who asked if
they could come in.
"Once they were inside, they didn't leave my side, so
they followed me to my bedroom, because I was in
my dressing gown, and watched while I put my
clothes on.
"It was a bit awkward really - my house mate saw as
they handcuffed me - and several people outside the
pub saw me handcuffed and being pushed into the
police riot van.
"I wanted to call my mum but they had confiscated
my phone so that they could see my messages, and
so that I couldn't contact Sophia.
"I waited quite a few hours for my interview, I was in
a cell for quite a long time."
Before Matthew left the station at around 9.30pm that
night, he was told that he was being charged with
assault by beating and criminal damage.
He said: "My housemate Henry was waiting for me
when I left, holding my bag of things and my teddy
bear.
"He told me that the college had said I wasn't
allowed to return to the college itself, or my student
accommodation.
"It was all a cruel and unfeeling lie for Sophia to have
told - in that time that I stayed with mum, everybody
got to hear her side of the story - they had no reason
to believe anything else, there was nothing I could do.
"Obviously, being in academia, my career is very much
based on reputation, and some placements and roles
that I have applied for have already turned me down.
"I eventually managed to get the agreement that I
was allowed to go back into my department but not
into the college.
"But it was like, every part of my life that I tried to
get back, she would try to enter- as soon as I got
back into the gym, she took out a membership there.
"It grew increasingly depressing as everything was
getting ripped away from me."
"It's going to take me a long time to trust anyone
again, I do think that I will be a bit less naive- I was
young and in love.
"I don't want this to make me a less soft person, my
parents have always said I was a bit soft.
"It's going to take a long time to be normal again, it's
so great that I can just go back to things- I can go for
a coffee without having to call the college and ask if
she's in.
"She had meant the world to me and I was ready to
spend the rest of my life and start a family with her.
"Now, I would be pretty much happy to never have
any contact with her or her family again.
"I promised to pay my parents and grandparents back
everything- in terms of legal fees and everything it's
come to the cost of nearly £10,000 - legal fees, the
cost of property, lost rent.
"When I told my friends about what was happening,
they said it was like a movie because it was just so
horrible - one of them said that I was probably the
first person on police bail to ever score a goal playing
football on the grounds of Christ's College.
"There isn't enough champagne in the world to say
how thankful I am- I got the best result possible, I
was cleared, found not guilty, I can go on living my
life."

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