A man who was cleared of raping a teenager at a seafront apartment block hugged a guard yesterday, but he received a rap from the judge.

Michael George wept with relief and flung his arms around his Group 4 escort when the jury dismissed the girl's story that he raped her twice in Redcar.

Mr George, 29, claimed that she consented to sexual activity. He said he was incapable of having sex with her after they left a club together in the early hours.

Relatives and friends burst into applause at Teesside Crown Court when the jury acquitted him after a five-day trial.

But Judge John Walford told the jury: "It has been a squalid little story, but I hope it has been of some interest and of some value to you."

Then, turning to Mr George's defence barrister, Peter Makepeace, he said: "He should know he emerges with no credit whatsoever from the events of that night."

The judge told demolition worker Mr George: "I hope you realise that playing Jack the lad does have a price and that you have learnt something from the events of this trial. You have got to appreciate how much you brought on yourself."

Mr George, of Kielder Close, Redcar, replied between sobs: "Oh I do, I do." He was found not guilty of two charges of rape and one of attempted rape on November 24, 2000.

The jury had heard that he had a previous sexual relationship with the girl which he claimed he had ended.

She complained she had been raped to a taxi driver and to her mother when she returned home.