A CONTRACTS manager from Hereford has been cleared of raping a teenager at a birthday party 12 years ago.

Jason Warren was accused of attacking the 17-year-old in a field while helping her look for a friend.

The woman later pulled out all her hair because she claimed Mr Warren had remarked about liking it.

But Mr Warren, aged 31, of Moor Street, Hereford, said they had sex by consent at the party and had made love a few months earlier at the home of the girl's parents.

The jury at Worcester Crown Court found him not guilty by a unanimous verdict after retiring for only an hour at the end of a three-day trial.

Both the defendant and his accuser attended the 21st party in a Herefordshire village in August, 1991. There was a live band and some guests stayed the night in tents.

In evidence, the woman alleged she slapped him when he tried to kiss her but he made threats and then raped her.

She did not cry out for help or report the incident at the time. "I was young and so frightened," she said. She later saw Mr Warren on a bus and accused him of raping her. But one of her friends came over to him and explained that she had "over-reacted".

During her evidence, she agreed they had sex by consent before the party and called it a one-off with no bad feeling afterwards.

Arrested in October last year, Mr Warren told police it was a joint idea to have sex at the party. At the time he socialised "to pull girls" and she was one of up to 20 females he had made love to.

Mr Warren, said to be a man of good character who is engaged to be married, said his memory of the party was hazy because of the time lapse.

He added: "I didn't rape anybody on that evening. I can remember going into the field with her. She was just a pretty girl."