A 61 year old Dymock man has been cleared by a jury of raping a teenage girl in his parents home forty years ago.

Colin Brace, of Western Way, Dymock, had been accused by a woman now in her late fifties of taking her to his home in Dymock in December 1981 after a night out and having sex with her despite her protestations.

But on Friday (December 3) the jury at Cirencester Courthouse declared him not guilty of rape and he was discharged after the judge, Recorder Malcolm Gibney, ordered that he be paid his travel and subsistence expenses for attending court.

The woman who claimed Mr Brace had raped her did not make the allegation to police until March last year, prosecutor David Maunder told the jury at the start of the trial.

When arrested, Mr Brace told police he recalled meeting the woman at the former Stardens club in Newent and buying her a drink but he denied she had been to his house or that he had any sexual contact with her.

In evidence Mr Brace denied that he had ever had any sexual activity with the woman and after a retirement of just over two hours he was acquitted and was told by the judge that he was free to go.