A businessman has been acquitted of raping a woman with whom he had shared a mattress.

It took a jury at Oxford Crown Court just under two hours on July 2 to reach the unanimous verdict that Max Wallace, 24, of Torres Square, Millwall, London, had not raped the 26-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Mr Wallace broke down in tears after the verdict was returned. His partner hugged him as he left the dock, and the pair quickly left the court together.

Mr Wallace had been drinking in London with old school friends after a friend had committed suicide, Judge Julian Hall told the court yesterday.

A group had ended up at a shared house in Oxford where the woman shared a mattress with Mr Wallace and another man, on September 25 last year when the rape was alleged to have happened.

The woman had said she woke up to find the defendant was having sex with her, and when she tried to jump away, he tried to get her back on the mattress again.

Mr Wallace said the woman made up a false allegation of rape because she did not want her boyfriend to find out she had been unfaithful to him.