Five men from Bolton have been cleared of gang raping a woman after it was disclosed she had fantasised online about group sex with strangers.

The woman, aged 24, from Liverpool, claimed she was sexually violated after she agreed to go to the house in Great Lever of one of the men, who she met on the internet.

However, the trial due to start at Preston Crown Court collapsed when late evidence was produced to show she had shown a willingness to take part in orgies.

Previously, prosecutor Michael Leeming told a jury the case involved allegations of rape and conspiracy to rape at the house where activity took place on June 19 last year "in the morning, afternoon and night".

He formally offered no evidence though after he had read excerpts of MSN chatlogs prior to the alleged offence, which was provided by defence barristers.

He said: "It is right to say that there is material in the chatlogs from the complainant who is prepared to entertain ideas of group sex with strangers, where to use her words 'her morals go out of the window'.

"This material does paint a wholly different light as far as this case is concerned. We take the view that it would not be appropriate to offer any evidence."

He said he was particularly concerned about one chatlog entry which referred to her prepared to have intercourse with six men from Ireland who wanted to travel to the woman's home.

In another entry, she candidly admitted she was not comfortable engaging in group sex with men she knew but was perfectly happy to indulge with strangers.

Judge Robert Brown ordered the jury to return not guilty verdicts against Kelvin Chinakwe, 26, of Brook Hey Avenue, Bolton; Olatunji Owolabi, 28, of Bradbourne Close, Great Lever; Afolabi Sanyaolu, 29, of Laburnum Road, London; Senthil Venkatachalam, 30, of Wigan Road, Deane, Bolton, and Funsho Bello, 26, of Atherstone, Rochdale, who were all charged with rape and conspiracy to rape.

A sixth man, Ganiyn Conteh, 32, of Abbeywood Avenue, Abbey Hey, Manchester, was formally cleared of conspiracy to rape.

All the defendants, apart from Chinakwe who was on bail since August, had been remanded in custody since last June.

The woman said she met Owolabi on MSN and had agreed to travel to his home for consensual sex after a series of internet exchanges and text messages.

She alleged she wanted to just have sex with him but was then raped by the others, including Owolabi.

Judge Brown told the jury: "This case depended on the complainant's credibility. Not to put too fine a point on it, her credibility was shot to pieces."