A 20-YEAR-old man has been found not guilty of raping a young woman in a Salisbury car park.

James Shaun Darroll Haggety, of North View, Berwick St James, was cleared of sexually assaulting the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in Salt Lane car park on July 19, 2013.

The complainant had been on a night out with friends in the city when she met the defendant, whom she already knew, in the Chapel night club.

The pair chatted before heading to Mr Haggety’s Vauxhall Corsa.

The trial at Winchester Crown Court heard they had consensual sex in the car. But the complainant alleged she withdrew her consent after her mobile phone kept going off and she wanted to leave to meet her friends, who she had arranged to pick her up at 3am.

She said Mr Haggety had held her down and that she tried to push him off. She said: “I couldn’t physically get up. I said no six, seven, eight times.”

The court heard the complainant sent a number of text messages to her friend during the alleged attack. One said “Salt Lane JW won’t get off”.

After leaving the car she was picked up by her friends, who described her as “upset” and “distressed”.

The court heard the pair had exchanged “flirtatious” messages beforehand.

Kakoly Pande, defending, said: "The truth is you had sex with James Hagetty consensually. Throughout those 50 minutes in his car you never tried to stop sex with him through your body language or say no. The truth is you regretted it afterwards.

“Basically you have told people, friends, that he raped you rather than tell the truth."

The complainant said she did not tell her friends straight away.

Painter and decorator Haggety, who was 19 at the time, told the court the complainant did not withdraw her consent and was a willing participant when the pair were having sex and she was “fine and happy” when she was with him.