But other options include:
Mallard thinking a hug was akin to rape;
a complainant who didn t want to be targeted by Soper and tories so did not want to take their complaint further, and Mallard is taking a hit for summarising the complaint accurately but prematurely in public;
the initial confidential findings getting a massive backtrack when employment and more serious options started being pursued
Mallard completely misread and conflated the allegations into something that nobody had described;
maybe some other possibility that hasn t occurred to me
If I were offered a million dollars if I could pick the correct scenario, I wouldn t be picking that Mallard thought an innocent but unwelcome hug was a serious sexual assault akin to rape.