Scott Robertson, of Howwood, and Gary McDougall, who is from Linwood, had been accused of raping the woman - who can’t be named for legal reasons - on a farm road near to Moss Road, Linwood.

They were on trial at the High Court in Glasgow this week over the alleged rape, which prosecutors and the woman claimed was committed on October 29, 2006.

But they walked free from the iconic building in the city’s Saltmarket area on Friday after a jury took just 15 minutes to find them not guilty of raping the woman when they were all aged 17.

Robertson and McDougall, who are both now 25, said that the sex was consensual, as the woman had asked them to have a threesome with her, and the jury believed them.

Speaking after they were cleared, a source said: “Both Scott and Gary are delighted that the jury found them not guilty.

“It has been hanging over them for years and they both breathed a big sigh of relief when the verdict came back.

“Both of them are now just looking to put this behind them and try and move on with their lives.

“But they are both worried that, even though they have been cleared and have been found to have done nothing wrong, it could haunt them in the future.

“They’re worried that people could hear about it and think ‘there’s no smoke without fire’.

“This has had a profound effect on them both and no doubt will do for the rest of their lives.” The court had heard that McDougall, who has since emigrated to Australia, had spent thousands of pounds flying back three times to clear his name.

Judge Lord Armstrong told them: “The jury have acquitted you. You are now free to leave the dock.” In evidence Robertson said he had filmed the woman and McDougall having sex on his mobile phone.

They said if she had been crying or distressed or had said “no” they would have stopped and told the jury the woman had been laughing and enjoying herself during their tryst.

The jury was shown the video clip taken from Robertson’s phone which showed a man and a woman laughing and having sex.

McDougall, was asked if he had raped the woman and said: “No. It is horrible to have somebody saying something like that about you.” When it was suggested that everything that was done that night was against the woman’s will he said: “That’s absolute nonsense.” He added: “She never said anything, she was fine with it. She seemed like she was enjoying herself.” When McDougall’s defence counsel, Louise Arrol, asked what he would have done if she had been crying or saying no, he replied: “I would have stopped.” Defence counsel Tony Graham, representing Robertson, suggested that the jurors might find two men having consensual sex with a woman in a country road “distasteful.” Robertson said: “When it was happening at the time there wasn’t much thought put into it.

“That was what she wanted and that’s what happened.” Robertson also told the court that the tryst was the woman’s idea, explaining: “She wanted to have sex with me and Gary.” He added: “It isn’t nice at all to be falsely accused.” Both men said that the man in the film was McDougall and the woman was their alleged victim.

During her stint on the witness stand she denied it was her in the video clip, saying she willingly got into a VW Lupo with the two men after leaving a fancy dress party she had gone to dressed as a French Maid.

She said she thought they were taking her home, but that they took her to a deserted country road instead, adding: “I didn’t know what was going on and said I wanted to go back to the party.

“Gary grabbed me. I was put against the front of the car and he started taking my clothes off. I was crying.” The woman told the jurors that she was raped by McDougall while Robertson filmed it on a phone and then she was raped by Robertson.

She added: “They were laughing and joking and saying: ‘You have to do it’.” In 2006 the Police were informed that the woman believed she had been raped but the case was not reported to the prosecutors until 2012.

And the eight-year cloud of suspicion that hung over both men finally disappeared on Friday when the jury cleared them of the charge.