A KIDDERMINSTER man has been cleared of raping a housewife in her bedroom as he helped in a search for her husband's missing ring.

Mark Nunn, aged 43, of Dunclent Crescent, elected not to give evidence at Worcester Crown Court when he was found not guilty on two charges after a three-day trial.

His counsel, Abigail Nixon, submitted that the evidence was vague and was not substantiated by forensic evidence after analysis of his clothing.

The court was told that Nunn was invited to join in the search and was left alone with the woman when her husband complained of feeling tired and went downstairs to sleep on a settee.

His wife complained that she had been assaulted twice on the bed in his absence but in cross-examination she denied that she had invented the story of the attack although it took her 10 days to complain to her husband and then the police.

Miss Nixon said the woman complained that Nunn had ejaculated on his shirt but no evidence of semen had been found by scientists.