A chance meeting outside a nightclub led to a man being charged with rape, a jury heard.

A 19-year-old woman claimed Goran Mohammed Ali had attacked her near a Scarborough hotel in the early hours of May 15. But after hearing from both of them and other witnesses during a four-day trial, a jury at York Crown Court acquitted him.

Ali, of Vine Street, Malton, who works at Malton Bacon Factory, had denied rape. As he left court, he said: "I am not guilty."

A Kurd by birth, he has been in Britain since December 2002, and spoke through an interpreter during the trial.

The jury heard he and the woman encountered each other outside Boleyn's nightclub, in St Thomas' Street, Scarborough. The woman had just been refused entry for not having identification.

Together with another woman, the pair walked to another nightclub and met up again later.

Night porter John Baxter, of the Mount Hotel, in Cliff Bridge Terrace, told police he had seen Ali and the woman kissing on a street bench at about 3am, and at 3.45am he saw the man walking alone outside the hotel.

At 4.15am, the woman, in great distress, and smelling of alcohol, appeared without trousers, pants or shoes at the hotel.

The woman told the jury she was a wreck and had no idea where she was, or what day of the week it was. She said she had knocked on the doors of several guesthouses seeking help, but no one helped her.

Mr Ali told the jury the woman had consented to kissing, cuddling and a sex act.

He could not remember if they had sex because he had been in drink, but if they had, it would have been consensual.

He said when they parted, he had asked the woman if she was all right and she said she was.

Updated: 10:31 Wednesday, January 11, 2006