A JURY has been discharged in the trial of a teenager accused of raping a woman in a graveyard as she made her way home.

David Yeaman, 19, was said to have grabbed the woman, who is in her 40s, as she walked past a cemetery in Gateshead, and then pushed her to the ground where he raped her before making off with her handbag.

Mr Yeaman, of Walker, Newcastle, said the woman consented to sex on July 24, 1999, and he pleaded not guilty to rape and theft. After a four-day trial the jury was unable to reach a verdict and has been discharged