A TAXI driver walked free from court after a York jury acquitted him of raping a passenger.

Peter Thirlway, aged 51, told York Crown Court he did have sex with the 21-year-old woman in the back of his taxi.

But he denied that she did not consent.

Under oath he told the jury she had enjoyed it and kept telling him to do more.

The jury took just over an hour to acquit him unanimously.

The 21-year-old girl had earlier given evidence alleging that she had not consented and that she did not want to have sex with him in the early hours of St Valentine's Day last year.

She had woken her parents shortly after he dropped her off near her home.

The jury heard that within a couple of hours police were knocking on Mr Thirlway's door in Green Dykes Lane, off Hull Road, York.

Mr Thirlway declined to comment to the Evening Press after his acquittal.

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