A man accused of repeatedly raping a woman while she slept has been cleared of all the charges.

Henry Routledge, 31, was alleged to have raped and sexually assaulted the woman on numerous occasions between April 2009 and April this year when he stayed at her house.

Mr Routledge, who lives in a caravan in Durand Close, in Carshalton, was acquitted of a total of 11 charges at Croydon Crown Court on Friday (October 15).

They included four counts of rape, four counts of sexual assault, and one each of theft, common assault and intimidation.

Mr Routledge told the court he had been having consensual sex with the woman and stayed at her house many times.

The victim admitted she had been seeing Mr Routledge but claimed she regularly spurned his advances, insisting he slept on the sofa.

But she woke up on numerous occasions to find him having sex with her.

Mr Routledge said: “I might have tried to arouse her when she was asleep but nothing out of the ordinary.

“Sometimes I’d get the hump when she rejected me and I would go and watch a film but I never carried on with anything sexual after that.

“She was making up the allegations because she was £800 in arrears in her rent and wanted me out of the way.”

Prosecutor Gino Connor attempted to attribute red marks, found by police around the victim’s neck, as evidence of Mr Routledge trying to choke the woman.

But Mr Routledge denied the allegations, he said: “She used to scratch her neck which would cause a red rash. I never touched her.”

He was also accused of stealing a mobile phone and intimidating a witness but the jury took just one day to find Mr Routledge innocent of all the charges.