A MAN accused of raping a 36-year-old woman in her Leigh home has been cleared.

A jury took less than an hour to find Dominic Dixon not guilty of rape and he was discharged from the dock at Liverpool Crown Court.

It had been alleged that he attacked the woman after getting in a rage and subjected her to physical violence for an hour, including holding her down on the bed with his hand around his throat.

The court was told that the woman managed to free herself and ran to another bedroom but Mr Dixon followed and forced his way in shouting that she knew they were going to have sex. He then allegedly raped her.

But Mr Dixon, of Abbots Road, Abbey Halton, Stoke, insisted sex had been consensual.

He claimed the woman, had been upset because he told her he was getting married.