A man has been cleared of sexually assaulting a sleeping woman.

At Mold Crown Court it was alleged that defendant John Hordern had taken advantage of a teenage girl while she slept.

The complainant told the jury that she woke to find the defendant, who she knew, with his hands inside her knickers.

She went to the bathroom for about an hour and was frightened and upset, she said.

Hordern, aged 20, of Chester Road in Macclessfield, denied a charge of sexual assault at a house in Colwyn Bay in November of last year.

Following a retirement of about an hour he was unanimously found not guilty by the 11-strong jury.

One jury member had been unable to attend because of snowy conditions.

Prosecuting barrister Elen Owen alleged that it was a case where the defendant sexually assaulted the girl with his fingers .

She woke up to feel a movement and realised that his fingers were inside her, she alleged.

When she realised what was happening she moved, and he immediately stopped.

The girl later contacted her mother and family went to get her.

Hordern told police that he was asleep at the time but the prosecution said that text messages showed that he had been awake in the early hours, although not necessarily at the time of the alleged incident.

The defendant, who received a special education and was accompanied by an appropriate adult in police interview, denied that any such thing had happened.

He denied taking advantage of her while she slept.

Nothing had been said about it at the time and he denied prosecution claimed that he had been hoping that she had not realised what had gone on.

In the early hours he got up and played computer games and she had remained in the same room, he said.

The victim denied that she was an attention seeker or that she had made up the allegations to try and get sympathy from an ex-partner who she hoped would go back to her.