A FORMER fire chief wept with relief yesterday when he was cleared of raping a widow in his home.

Peter Glover, 62, who has an MBE, told a jury the woman had made up the allegations after she discovered he had a regular girlfriend.

Mr Glover, who ran the volunteer fire brigade in Loftus, east Cleveland, for 33 years was arrested in April last year after the woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - alleged he raped her three times in March last year on her first visit to his house.

The woman, who gave evidence at Teesside Crown Court through a television link, said she fell in love with him after they met at a bus stop.

She told the court: "It was an honour to be with him.

"I told a friend that I could imagine spending the rest of my life with him, but then he did what he did."

Mr Glover produced as evidence a letter that she later wrote to him, in which she said that she "enjoyed the cuddle, but you have let me down".

He told the jury that he had a girlfriend who he visited once a week for sex, which was enough for him.

He and members of his family were in tears after the verdicts were returned, and they rushed from the court saying, "Thank you".

Mr Glover, of Coronation Road, Loftus, was found not guilty of three charges of rape.