A YOUNG man left court in tears after he was acquitted of raping a woman as she slept.

Michael Paul McConachy, 22, faced two juries in a week in two different counties.

He denied that he had had sex with the woman at all.

Both juries heard allegations that a phone voicemail recorded the woman’s objections in the early hours.

She alleged that she woke to find Mr McConachy raping her and managed to switch on her phone under her pillow.

The prosecution alleged that though her call was not answered, it switched on a friend’s voicemail which recorded her objections.

The first jury was sworn in at York Crown Court on Monday.

But it had to be discharged on Tuesday because jurors had difficulty hearing a DVD recording of the woman being interviewed by police.

She was the first witness in the prosecution case.

The trial was restarted at Teesside Crown Court in Middlesbrough before a new jury on Wednesday.

It would not have been possible to try it again at York Crown Court until much later in the year.

The second jury heard both prosecution and defence evidence.

When he gave evidence, Mr McConachy told the second jury that nothing sexual happened between himself and the woman.

He said he was in a relationship with a different person at the time.

He also denied that he fancied the woman and that he had tried to kiss her in a nightclub when they spent the evening together in York city centre.

He said they had gone back to her house because he was drunk and that both had fallen asleep.

He said he had then slept until the woman woke him at 9.30am.

Mr McConachy, of Trevor Grove, Holgate, denied a charge of rape and was acquitted by the Teesside jury.

After the verdict, he left the courtroom at Teesside Crown Court in tears.

The jury heard that there was no forensic evidence confirming that he had had sex with the woman.

They were also told this did not necessarily mean that the two had not had sex.