A HUSBAND has been cleared of raping his wife as she slept after telling a jury she had invented the allegations in revenge for him having an affair.

The 29-year-old denied having sex with his wife as she slept and at first told police he had sex while he was also asleep.

He was cleared by a jury at Exeter Crown Court despite them hearing evidence from a world-renowned sleep expert that his account of ’sexsomnia’ was scientifically impossible.

The husband said his wife had made false allegations against him after finding out he had been unfaithful throughout their turbulent relationship.

He said his wife had also trashed their home in Newton Abbot and destroyed his clothes when she found out about the affair.

The husband denied four specimen counts of rape and was found not guilty of all charges.

During a week-long trial his wife alleged she woke up repeatedly to find he was having sex with her and that when she complained about it the next morning he would pretend nothing had happened.

She said that in three years of marriage she had never known him to talk or walk in his sleep and most of incidents happened shortly after they went to bed.

World-renowned sleep expert Dr Mark Pressman has given evidence by video link from America that the wife’s account would rule out the possibility of so-called sexsomnia.

He said sexsomnia, or having sex while asleep, is a form of parasomnia comparable to sleep talking or sleep walking.

All these types of behaviour are associated with deep sleep which does not start for at least 50 minutes and normally occurs between 50 and 90 minutes after a person falls asleep.

The husband told the jury he had never raped his wife or knowingly had sex with her when she was asleep. He said he had woken to find her having sex with him on two occasions, having stimulated him as they slept.

He said:’I never knowingly had sex with her while she was asleep. I did have recollections of consensual sex on other occasions. When she made it clear she did not want sex I would sometimes persist and try to persuade her by kissing her, but if she would say no, I would stop.

‘She never told me I had raped her. She did say we had sexual encounters which I could not recall. I was disturbed I could not remember it.’

He said she had only complained of rape after finding out he had been having an affair with another woman. She had been so angry she also ruined his clothes and trashed their home.