A man accused of raping a solicitor was cleared yesterday after a judge said that the woman’s claim that she was too drunk to consent was completely wrong.

Peter Bacon, 26, a pub chef from Canterbury, Kent, and the woman, in her forties, had sex at her house after a night of heavy drinking in February last year.

Winchester Crown Court was told that when the woman woke up the next morning, she started shouting and told Mr Bacon to leave.

Mr Bacon told the court: “She asked, ‘Did we have sex?’. I said, ‘Yes’, and she started shouting, ‘Rape!’.”

He said the woman claimed she had been too drunk to consent and told him to get out. Mr Bacon said he went straight to the local police station, where he insisted that the sex had been reciprocal. He was arrested later that day.

After a three-day trial, the jury took 45 minutes to return its verdict. Judge Patrick Hooton said: “The fact that she does not remember does not prove that she did not give consent. The fact that a person is drunk, or even very drunk, can, but doesn’t necessarily, affect consent.”

Mr Bacon had visited the woman’s home after a friend invited him. He said he had met the woman twice before and she had been drunk both times. That evening, the trio consumed around five bottles of wine before Mr Bacon and the woman found themselves alone.

Mr Bacon, who denied rape, said: “We were talking and her head was close to mine. She smiled and said, ‘You’re quite young, aren’t you?’. I thought she was giving me the come-on.

“Then, when we started kissing, she did not say no. There was never any indication of her saying, ‘What are you doing?’. She had plenty of time to say, ‘Oi!’.”

Kerry Malin, for the prosecution, told the court that the woman, who cannot be named, was so drunk that she could not remember Mr Bacon arriving. The next morning, she had shouted: “It’s because of b******s like you that the law has been changed,” referring to a 2007 Court of Appeal ruling that someone who is drunk may not be capable of giving consent.

Blood samples showed that the woman was at least twice the drink-drive limit at the time, with memory loss and loss of inhibition likely. Ms Malin said: “He could see a woman in drink and it was too good an opportunity to miss.”

In police interviews, Mr Bacon admitted that he knew the woman was drunk, but “she was still able to hold a conversation with me”. He said that he thought the woman had enjoyed the sex. “She groaned. She gave the impression that she was enjoying it.”

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