Two years ago, Samuel Armstrong was the youngest Chief of Staff in Westminister. One night in October 2016, this would change. Samuel was accused of rape and sexual assault by a woman who was known to him. Though ultimately found not guilty at trial, he feels this accusation has done irreparable damage to his career. He joined Ryan Tubridy on the line from London.

Samuel described the work he was doing, working as an aide to a Conservative MP whom he “adored”. Doing “important work” that he cared about.

“On one night in October 2016, all of that fell away from me.”

He met a woman through work, striking up a friendship that Samuel believed was flirtatious. The woman was someone he “came to like and trust”. One night in the office, after some drinks, the two of them engaged in sex. Samuel is firm that everything was “wholly consensual”.

“One thing led to another and those events…went on for a little while from that point. It was wholly consensual. I thought it was quite nice, it was quite touching. I think both of us at the time were very happy indeed.“

Samuel left the office and stopped to talk briefly with one of the policemen stationed at the parliament gates. He texted the woman telling her which gate to use late at night. She didn't respond. A few hours later, Samuel was woken by a phone call from his parents. They told him the police were at their family home and they needed to speak with him. His first thought was that something had happened to his boss, the MP.

“I was listed as his emergency contact and we were told that if anything were ever to happen to him to expect the police to come and find us quickly.”

It became apparent that this was not the reason the police were looking for him.

“The police officer came up and very quickly, he said, “Mr Armstrong, there’s been an allegation of rape made against you and we need to arrest you. At that point, it felt like somebody had just punched me in the stomach. I was winded. I didn't know what to think. I thought there must have been some kind of terrible mistake.”

Samuel was handcuffed and taken to a police station, where he saw “the worst of our society”. His clothes were taken for evidence and a nurse clipped his nails and took swabs. He found the experience difficult and “very invasive”.

“It was thoroughly shameful. I’ve never felt so alone and naked, both physically and metaphorically…There was just the most profound sense of being alone.”

Samuel’s job meant that when the trial date arrived, it garnered significant press attention. Samuel described it as “the trial of the year”, saying that there were “30 cameras” waiting for him outside court and that he felt like “target number one”. During the trial, he said, he had no option but to go into “excruciating detail” about his private life.

“Everything that, you know, ordinary people try and keep private and confidential was, all of a sudden, public knowledge. And the only way I could possibly get my life back was to co-operate.”

The complainant had, as Samuel terms it, “a decade-long catalogue of mental health problems” and had contacted a newspaper shortly after the alleged crime. After considering the evidence, the jury found Samuel not guilty.

“It felt like a pyrrhic victory but it was a victory nevertheless. And from that point, at least from the eyes of the law, I was innocent and free to go back to my life.”

However, Samuel feels that in some ways, the damage has been done.

“This will be the thing that people that people – and quite rightly, in the political world – think of when they hear my name first for the rest of my foreseeable career. That’s not particularly fair. That’s not particularly right, that something that didn’t happen is the thing most associated with me. But it’s the reality.”

Listen back to the whole interview on The Ryan Tubridy Show here.