TWO hotel workers have been cleared by a jury of raping a 20-year-old woman they met in a Bradford nightclub, following a crown court trial.

Jurors returned a unanimous verdict after considering the evidence for around two hours and found Daniel Mayo, 32, of Linton Road, Eastmoor, Wakefield, and Simon Ellis, 30, of North Road, Wibsey, Bradford, both not guilty of the offence.

Their verdicts end more than 18 months of uncertainty for the men, who were originally arrested in January 2013 following the woman's complaint to police.

The pair had met the woman who made the complaint at The Village nightclub in Sackville Street, Bradford, in the early hours of December 16, 2012.

Mr Mayo and Mr Ellis had visited the club after finishing work at the Cedar Court Hotel in Rooley Lane and met the woman, a mother who had a boyfriend, for the first time.

Mayo had told the hearing that he started chatting to the woman, bought her a couple of drinks and had danced with her.

During the trial, the jury was told the woman had drunk a bottle of wine at home before going out at 9 pm and visited several pubs and clubs, drinking vodka and alcopops as well as sniffing poppers during the evening.

By the time the three left The Village, the woman asked Mayo to buy her a kebab and he helped her into the back of Ellis's van because she said her legs were like jelly.

They drove back to Ellis's then home in Buttershaw, Bradford, where the rapes were claimed to have taken place.

Mayo had accepted in court the woman was "a bit worse for wear" and saying things that did not make sense, but insisted he had not raped her.

Instead, he said she asked him not to leave after putting her into Ellis's bed and was comforting her when she initiated sexual activity and told jurors that he had checked with her but she said it was fine and had told him she loved him during the encounter.

The pair were cleared of the charges by Bradford Crown Court.