A MAN accused of raping a clubber in a city centre alleyway has been cleared of all charges.

Suranga Wijethunga, of Speedwell Street, Oxford, put his hands together in prayer and mouthed a ‘thank you’ as the jury of six men and six women returned verdicts of not guilty on one count of rape and another of sexual activity without consent.

As his trial at Oxford Crown Court came to an yesterday, jurors took seven hours and four minutes of deliberations before acquitting Mr Wijethunga of both charges, which he had always denied.

During the seven-day trial jurors were told by prosecutors that Mr Wijethunga had raped the woman – who cannot be named for legal reasons – near Atik nightclub.

The incident was alleged to have taken place in the early hours of June 18 last year.

CCTV footage played to the court on the night in question appeared to show the pair leave the club before walking off towards the city centre.

The prosecution said the pair then went into an alleyway and Mr Wijethunga raped the woman, having also engaged in sexual activity inside the packed nightclub earlier that night.

During the trial Mr Wijethunga had taken to the witness box and told jurors that although he had engaged in sexual activity it had been consensual.

He said: “She was just looking at me, I was dancing close just in front [of her].

“She was looking at me and smiling at me, I smiled back. I thought she had just given me a smile like as a friend, I didn’t know what it meant.”

He told the court that they then left the club and engaged in consensual sex in the alleyway.