A man accused of raping a sleeping woman after leaving a Redditch nightclub has been cleared by a jury.

John Hollis, who drank 16 pints of beer during the evening, told Worcester Crown Court he had no recollection of having sex.

He claimed he felt dizzy in a flat where he had been invited to sleep the night and believed his drinks may have been spiked.

The woman gave evidence that she awoke to find him having unlawful sex with her.

But the 28-year-old from Barnwood Close, Redditch, was found not guilty of rape after the jury had retired for just over an hour.

The court heard that not long after Mr Hollis came to live in Redditch following a split with his wife, he was invited for a night out by a group of women.

After they left a nightclub in the early hours of June 10 last year, the defendant and two women went to a flat where he was given his own room to sleep in.

Prosecutor Samantha Powis alleged that during the night he went into another room where the women were asleep and climbed into bed with them.

She said they ejected him but when one woman left the property to get cigarettes, Mr Hollis returned to the bedroom where he was accused of committing the sex attack.

The woman told the jury she later informed her friend who ordered Mr Hollis to leave and threatened to knife him if he refused.

But Mr Hollis said he drank more than his normal 14 pints that night and did not recall anything untoward happening.

The prosecutor said he never mentioned to police that his drinks might have been spiked.