A MAN has been cleared of two alleged sexual assaults against a 17-year-old woman walking in Oxford.

Kenrick Swaby, of Gladstone Road, Headington, walked free from Oxford Crown Court yesterday after a three-day trial.

It was alleged he committed the crimes on June 25 last year against a girl walking in Long Lane, Littlemore, at about 6.30pm.

But the jury took around four hours to clear the 37-year-old of both counts.

It was claimed he had twice touched the crotch of a woman he had never met before, moments after sending her a text message reading: “I want to have sex with you.”

But prosecutor Graham Smith said the complainant could not explain how the defendant had got her mobile number.

James Reilly, defending, told the jury that the girl must have given it to him. He said: “How do you get somebody else’s phone number, how does it happen?

“In my submission the most obvious way is that person gives you their number.

“People don’t go around giving out phone numbers of 17-year-old girls to 37-year-old men.

“It doesn’t add up.”

During cross examination on Tuesday the girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, repeatedly insisted she had not given Swaby her number.

She said: “At no point did I give him my number.”