A 64-YEAR-OLD Cardigan sheep farmer has been cleared of raping a woman who claimed she was asleep when he had sexual intercourse with her.

John Lewis Davies, known locally as John Pantgwyn, had denied the charge and was found not guilty unanimously by a jury following a trial at Swansea Crown Court.

Nicola Powell, prosecuting, told how Davies, of Pantgwyn farm, Llangoedmor, had been out drinking.

Davies and the woman went to a house together where they ate takeaway meals.

The woman told the jury she was drunk and went to bed wearing her knickers and a top.

She said she either passed out or fell asleep, but woke to find Davies having sex with her. “I felt sick,” she added.

She ran downstairs and locked herself in a bathroom. Davies told the jury he believed she had been awake and said she had taken off her own knickers after he had tickled her thighs.

He said he stopped when she became upset.

Davies agreed that later that night he had sat on Llechryd bridge “and thought about jumping in” but told the jury that was because the woman had become upset and not because he had taken advantage of her.

He also agreed that, the following day, he had sent one of her friends a text message reading, “Need to talk. Did something wrong last night.”

Giving evidence on his 64th birthday, the father of eight said he was concerned for the woman because he heard her crying as he left the house.