A MAN accused of putting his finger in a woman’s bottom during sex has been cleared of assaulting her.

Scott Howard was found not guilty of assault by penetration at Leeds Crown Court, prompting cheers from the public gallery.

2 Scott Howard has been cleared after he was accused of putting his finger in a woman's bottom during sex Credit: MEN Media

The 26-year-old had been accused of sexually assaulting the female while she was on top of him during sex in March last year.

The court previously heard that the pair had been drinking alone in the woman’s Huddersfield home after talking on Facebook.

Opening the trial, Richard Woolfall, prosecuting, said: “She agreed to sexual intercourse with him.

“In doing that act, he then put his finger up her bottom.

2 There were cheers from the public gallery at Leeds Crown court when Scott Howard was found not guilty of assault by penetration Credit: MEN Media

“It was painful. She told him to stop.”

He said that this went on for several minutes until the woman got off the defendant, asking him why he did not stop.

In a video recording of the woman’s police interview, she claimed the defendant immediately denied putting his finger in her - and denied even having sex with her, adding: “He was, like, trying to convince me that nothing had happened - that I was going totally crazy.”

She also claimed that she had initially been reluctant to have sex and said she did not know why she got on top of him on the sofa, describing herself as “quite easily influenced”.

The alleged victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had known Howard, of Sowerby Bridge, West Yorks, for years but they had never been in a relationship.

During cross-examination, she said the pair had been having sex for about five minutes when the alleged assault happened.

John Batchelor, defending, said: “But then your mood suddenly changed.”

The woman replied: “When he inserted his finger and it hurt, yeah.”

In tears, she added: “Normally when you are having sex you are supposed to stop if someone says 'no'.”

Batchelor asked the woman if she had even accused Howard of rape afterwards, to which she replied that she could not remember.

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He asked: “Did you feel at that point that you had simply let yourself down and felt used?”

She replied: “No.”

Batchelor said that his client accepted having sex with her, but said that the offence never happened.

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