A CHEF who was accused of rape has been acquitted by a jury.

Heliton Barboza, of Kern Hill Road, Oxford, was found not guilty on Wednesday (December 14) after an almost two-week trial at Oxford Crown Court.

It was alleged that after he had finished his last shift at The Ivy Oxford Brasserie on December 15, 2021, that he had raped a woman inside her home after his leaving drinks.

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The pair had a drink together at the Half Moon pub in St Clement’s Street.

The woman then said she had a ‘vague memory’ of Mr Barboza allegedly performing a sexual act on her inside her home and awoke the next day 'in pain'.

Mr Barboza said the sex was consensual and both of them were sober.