Self-confessed sex addict Callum Fennell, 25, is accused of raping a drunken sleeping woman before texting his mum to confess. He told Plymouth Crown Court he thought she was awake and enjoyed it

A Royal Navy sailor has been cleared of raping a woman as she slept.

Able seaman Callum Fennell, 25, was acquitted of raping and sexually assaulting the complainant by a jury in just 30 minutes at Plymouth Crown Court.

The sailor, based in Portsmouth, had previously cried in the dock while telling the jury that he believed the woman had consented to sex in bed in the early hours.

The self-confessed sex addict told a jury he was convinced his alleged victim was awake and willing to sleep with him.

The able seaman first class, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, took to the witness stand on the second day of his trial.

He denied one count of rape and one of sexual assault on April 1 2016.

Plymouth Crown Court heard on Monday that Fennell called himself 'vile and disgusting' in texts sent to the woman after the alleged rape.

He also messaged his own mother saying: 'Mum, I had sex with her last night when I shouldn't have.'

Releasing him from the dock as a free man, Recorder Phillip Mott, QC, said: 'You are discharged. You can carry on with the Navy.'

On the witness stand, Fennell said he only developed doubts about whether she was awake or not when he received a text message from the woman's mother.

The woman had gone home and told her mother about what happened to her and she then sent angry texts to Fennell threatening him with police action.

Fennell, an able seaman first class from Portsmouth, Hampshire, said he started to doubt if the woman was awake or not when he received texts from her mother

Fennell told Plymouth Crown Court: 'From my point of view she was awake and willing to do what we were doing.

'In my eyes she was awake. She knew what I was doing. The way she was moving to the way I was touching her.

'I felt she was wanting me to do a bit more so I started stroking between her thighs and I got a reaction that showed she was happy with what I was doing.

'She was making pleasurable noises.'

Fennell's defence barrister Richard Onslow asked him: 'Did you have sex with her thinking she was not agreeing to it?'

Fennell replied: 'No'.

He claimed that after the woman's mother texted him, he became confused and added to the court: 'I was in bits and didn't know what to do.

'All that was going through my head at the time was her mum saying to me about her being asleep and drunk.'

The court heard that Mr Fennell had served with the Navy for seven years, mainly on Portsmouth-based warships.

His commanding officer gave a glowing character reference to the jury.

The court heard that Mr Fennell had attended a support group for sex addicts last year after he was caught looking at pornography.

Mr Fennell, who hugged a supporter outside Courtroom 4, declined to comment before leaving the court.