A motor dealer jailed for raping a young mother was cleared yesterday because a jury did not know the woman was a prostitute.

John McIntear, 57, complained that he was a victim of rules aimed to protect alleged rape victims when they give evidence in court. Appeal judges agreed that his trial had been unfair and overturned the conviction.

Mr McIntear, of Grangehill North Lodge, Beith, Ayrshire, was jailed for six years in September 2006. He remained behind bars until January last year when he was freed on bail to await the outcome of his appeal.

During his trial the woman, who was then aged 24, told how she had left a pub near Glasgow Cross and got into Mr McIntear's car, thinking it was a taxi, and asked him to take her home.

He drove her to the Toryglen area of the city where she claimed he raped her in the car.

When questioned by police, Mr McIntear said he had paid the woman £20 for sex earlier that evening and had arranged to meet her again when the pub closed. But a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh rejected the story and found him guilty.

At the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday, Lord Johnston, sitting with Lords Nimmo Smith and Eassie, heard that the young mother had convictions for prostitution - one court appearance just days before the alleged rape in August 2005.

The appeal judges also heard how the jury were prevented from knowing this.

Defence lawyers are not allowed to question alleged rape victims about their previous sexual history, unless a judge agrees to allow an exception.

The woman had told the trial: "I was drunk but not so drunk as to allow a stranger to have intercourse with me."

Mr McIntear's counsel, Shanti Rao, got as far as asking his accuser: "Have you ever worked " when she was halted by an objection.

Trial judge Lord Macphail refused to allow the mother to be questioned about her convictions.

Yesterday Chris Shead, defending Mr McIntear, told the appeal court: "She would have been bound to concede there were convictions and that would have enabled the jury to see her evidence in a completely different light."

The jury had to decide whether the woman got into Mr McIntear's car because she mistook it for a hire car or whether she was a prostitute looking for business.

Giving the appeal judges' decision, Lord Johnston said: "We are of the view that the issue of whether the woman was working as a prostitute or not was highly relevant to the defence.

"The question of what caused the woman to get into the car with McIntear was central."

The judges also refused a Crown request to make Mr McIntear face a re-trial.