A MAN wept in the dock as he was acquitted of raping a woman in a dark tunnel after a night out.

Goran Husseini was accused of attacking the woman after she lost a friend and was left walking the streets alone in Stockton in February this year.

Jurors took only 37 minutes to unanimously find the 36-year-old not guilty of raping the woman who claimed he led her into the tunnel, forced her to have sex and laughed with his friend after the alleged attack.

Wearing a dark blue T-shirt, Husseini wiped his eyes with a tissue and thanked Judge Stephen Ashurst as he was acquitted and discharged.

The decision was met with cries and sighs of relief from his group of friends sat in the public gallery.

Husseini, who sat next to a Kurdish translator throughout the trial, was accused of repeatedly saying "I want to sex you" as the pair walked from Stockton to Thornaby and forcing himself on her in a tunnel close to Victoria Bridge.

The woman claimed he laughed with a friend after the alleged attack and she was left crying and with a bloodied nose.

But Keith Harrison, defending, previously pointed out that the pair were inside the tunnel for more than 50 minutes and said the complainant fabricated the allegation after she regretted having consensual sex.

He added that CCTV footage showed her willingly go into the tunnel with him and she hugged him before asking if he had condoms.

The court also heard she tried to steal £60 from the jacket he let her wear to keep her warm and joked about being underage.

Husseini, who denied the single charge of rape, maintained the sex was consensual.

Judge Ashurst said: “Mr Husseini you are acquitted, so are now discharged.”