To be clear, the rape allegations were in Sweden and not the UK.

Who is Julian Assange? What was he charged with and why is he now a 'free man'?

"He was accused of sexual assault in Sweden and espionage offences in the US.

"In 2010, he was arrested in the UK over the Swedish charges.

"What did Sweden charge Assange with? One count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation, one count of rape

"Assange denied the allegations, claiming they were part of a plot to discredit him and extradite him to the US — whose military secrets he'd exposed on his WikiLeaks website."

....

"Swedish authorities dropped the sexual assault charges against Assange in November 2019.

"At the time, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said the corroborating evidence had weakened considerably 'due to the long period of time that has elapsed since the events in question'."

I agree with gillymor. The only reason the rape charges were dropped was because Assange was avoiding facing all of the different allegations against him by hiding away in the Ecuadorian embassy, i.e. being a whimpering little mouse and not a real man who faces the consequences of his actions. He also put lives in danger and claimed to be a journalist, which he isn't, in my opinion.

Frankly, I wouldn't want him anywhere near anyone I know and I wish he was still somewhere, anywhere outside of Australia.