A man with cerebral palsy has been cleared by a jury of raping a lesbian “old enough to be his mother”.

There were cries from the dock and the public gallery at Bradford Crown Court when Jonathan Ingham, 20, was acquitted yesterday.

The defendant got talking to a woman in a pub and she invited him to her house to see her pet cat, Bradford Crown Court was told during Mr Ingham’s trial, which began on Monday.

Prosecutor Robert Elias had told the jury that once inside the property, Mr Ingham pushed the middle-aged woman on to a couch in the living area and raped her, before she kicked him away and threw him out of the house.

But when asked by his barrister John Broadley if he had “fancied his chances”, Mr Ingham replied he had no sexual interest her.

He denied using the cat as an excuse to go to the house and denied pushing the woman backwards, pulling down her trousers and raping her.

Cross examined by Mr Elias, Mr Ingham was asked: “She was old enough to be your mum?”

He replied: “Exactly. Why would I be interested?”

The jury was told the defendant had been tried previously but it emerged very late in the trial that he suffered from cerebral palsy, which nobody had been aware of, and the trial had to be abandoned.

Mr Ingham, of Carr Bottom Avenue, Wibsey, told the jury he had a serious medical condition, his right side was weaker and he favoured his left side, but he said it did not stop him having sex.

When the jury returned its verdict yesterday afternoon, Mr Ingham shouted “Yes!” from the dock.

There were audible gasps from the public gallery and one supporter of Mr Ingham said: “Get in there.”

Recorder Nigel Peters QC said: “It is a court of law, celebrations will take place outside the building. There is not to be any disruption inside the court, that applies to you (Mr Ingham) and members of the public here to support you.”