AN RAF sergeant has been cleared of raping a woman at an Oxfordshire air base.

Stewart Fryatt, pictured, always maintained he had consensual sex with a 22-year-old woman at RAF Benson in March last year.

At Oxford Crown Court yesterday, jurors returned from three hours of deliberations to return not guilty verdicts on a charge of rape and another of a serious sexual assault.

The 38-year-old was discharged from the dock and embraced by his family and friends outside court.

His solicitor Martin Harvey said: “We all agree with the jury’s verdicts.

“It has been 12 months of hell for Mr Fryatt and his family and we all hope he can get his life back together.”

Mr Fryatt told the four-day trial that he and the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been flirting at a bar on the base while watching a Six Nations rugby match on television.

He said he accompanied her outside to help her find the nearest toilet before she began kissing him and they had consensual sex in an alley.

Mr Fryatt, who was a technician working on Merlin helicopters, had been at RAF Benson for 12 years.

He is now stationed at High Wycombe. Last night an RAF spokesman said that he would be eligible to continue his career.