AN insurance broker wept as an all woman jury at the Old Bailey cleared him of raping a City worker.

Tearful James Walters, aged 22, of Chislehurst Road, Bromley, walked slowly from the dock as friends and relatives clapped and cheered from the public gallery.

It is believed to be one of the first cases to be tried by a jury made up completely of women.

Walters maintained through the trial the 20-year-old brunette had begged him for sex.

The jury unanimously acquitted Walters of two charges of raping the woman at her Docklands home in June 2000.

A court usher said after the trial: “I have been doing the job for 20 years and I have certainly never come across an all-woman jury in any case.

“I think about 15 years ago there was an all-man jury who tried a case here but that's it. I've certainly never heard of 12 women trying a rape case before.”

The Crown alleged Walters struck after the trusting woman allowed him to stay at her flat.

Walters had met the City professional early last year in the Gas Club in Leicester Square. But she let him stay over after he left home following a family dispute.

On the night in question they drank in a local pub before taking a Chinese meal back to the flat.

It was alleged Walters then demanded sex from the woman as she started to undress in her bedroom.

It was claimed he removed her clothing, forced her to perform oral sex and raped her twice.

But Walters said he was shocked by the accusation because the woman had consented to sex.

He also denied accusations he tried to pressure the girl into a relationship.

“I would say she called me more often than I called her either by text or phone,” he said.

“There was no real relationship suggested. I told her more or less from the second time around I did not intend to enter anything serious. I put her in picture.”

He left court without commenting.