AN Internet seducer, who ripped off women in chatrooms, was cleared yesterday or raping one of his victims.

Kenneth Huskinson, 26, stole the mother-of-three's mobile phone and £38 as she slept in his bed after a date.

She claimed she was raped but jobless Huskinson said the sex was consensual.

When arrested, he offered to give police the names and addresses of a number of women he lured to his flat before stealing from them to prove his motive was not sexual.

David Brooke, prosecuting, said Huskinson had been jailed many times for stealing, burglary and robbery. He was jailed for eight months in February for burglary and was serving three months for driving while disqualified.

Mr Brooke told Teesside Crown Court there were no more charges of stealing from women, although Huskinson admitted the crimes to police and in evidence.

Detective Constable Michael Merriott told the court that Huskinson said: "I meet lasses on the Internet and I rip them off. She's not the first one, there's loads of them. Normally I do it with my friend but he was not with me on this occasion."

Huskinson told the court he contacted the woman three weeks ealier. She told him she was 35 with no children and they began texting each other.

Huskinson said the woman was drunk when she arrived at his flat with some cannabis and they shared four joints before going to bed.

She told police she felt drowsy after a cup of tea and a cigarette, and woke up in his bed with her trousers around her ankles.

She went into the sitting room and she saw that her bag had been rifled and that £38 and credit cards had gone.

The woman was examined by a police surgeon and DNA tests proved a match with Huskinson. A blood test for a date rape drug proved negative but there were traces of cannabis.

Huskinson was arrested ten days after her visit.

Huskinson of Russell Street, Stockton, was found not guilty of rape on July 1, last year. He admitted theft and was jailed for a month.