A GAS engineer has been cleared of sexually assaulting a woman in the spare bedroom of a friend's house.
A jury at Durham Crown Court took nearly four hours to find Adrian Hedley not guilty of sexually assaulting the 27-year-old complainant.
After failing to reach a unanimous verdict, the jury acquitted Mr Hedley, 27, of Broadmeadows, Durham Road, Wheatley, Hill, County Durham, who denied the charge.
The court had heard that the allegation stemmed from events at a couple's house after a group of men and women had been on separate nights out in July last year.
The woman said she awoke in the night to find Mr Hedley lying on top of her. But Mr Hedley, who used to play for Horden Cricket Club and once played at county level, said the woman had let him sleep in the bed.
He said he had gone to sleep naked but later woke to find her "holding his private parts". He brushed her hand away and went back to sleep.
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