'Too drunk' rape trial: Man cleared

Peter Bacon, 26, was accused of attacking the woman after a night of heavy drinking in February last year at her house in Kent.

But he was cleared by a jury of four men and seven women at Winchester Crown Court after they deliberated for just 45 minutes.

Mr Bacon smiled and said thank you to the jury after hearing the verdict.

The prosecution claimed that the woman was so drunk she was incapable of giving Bacon consent to the sex and he took advantage. But Bacon told the court that the woman, who is in her 40s, had given him the "come-on" and consented and had taken part in the sex.

Earlier, the jury heard that Bacon, from Pilgrims Way, Canterbury, Kent, had gone to the woman's house for drinks after a friend already there called him to come over. He said he had met the woman twice before that night and she had always been drunk.

About five bottles of wine were consumed by the three in the house over the evening before the friend left - leaving Bacon and the woman alone. Bacon told police: "I thought she gave me the come-on - the body and eye contact was there and she did not give me the brush-off." He said the pair went upstairs and had sex, but in the morning she accused him of rape.

Bacon said he was shocked and scared and he grabbed his clothes, leaving behind his socks, and ran out of the house while the woman, now sobbing, told him to "get out". He said he then called 999 to report what had happened, before going to a police station.

Blood samples taken from her showed the woman would have been at least twice the drink-drive limit at the time with memory loss and loss of inhibitions likely to have taken place.

Earlier, the woman had told the jury that she would not have given consent to sex. She said: "I was too drunk to consent to anything." Summing up, Judge Patrick Hooton said that the woman's comment that she could not give consent because she was drunk was "completely wrong".