A record shop worker has been cleared of a drunken

A record shop worker has been cleared of a drunken sex attack on a sleeping beauty.

Lee Grainge, 29, mistook the slumbering blonde’s murmurs as encouragement as he poured out his heart and began to caress his flatmate.

But Grainge was left more than red-faced as the 22-year-old awoke to accuse him of being a ‘molester’.

A jury at London’s Southwark Crown Court found Grainge not guilty of indecently assaulting Miss X on January 8 this year after he maintained he believed she was consenting to sex.

His victim alleged she woke on the sofa in the shared Isle of Dogs flat to find Grainge beside her, his trousers around his knees, and his hand intimately touching her private parts.

Grainge said they had both been out drinking together that evening and ‘snogged’ after taking a taxi home.

‘It was outside the house.

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it was a joint thing, a proper kiss with tongues and everything.

A mutual thing,’ he said.

But he said the embrace ended with Miss X saying it was wrong because they were flatmates.

Later, he said Miss X fell asleep on the sofa and he attempted to lift her to help her to her bedroom but failed.

When police asked his feelings towards his flatmate, Grainge said: ‘I love her dearly because she is a really pretty girl and I have always fancied her.

‘

Grainge, now of Kingsland Road, Hackney, east London, said he whispered his feelings.

‘She came back with a murmur like ”cool” so I kissed her on the lips.

‘I said it again, saying I fancied her and let’s sort it out, even if we are flatmates.

She put her arm out and I was holding her hand.

‘I kissed her again and said I would really like to make love to her kind of thing.

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it was like she was really smiling.

‘I put my hand on top of her trousers and on her zip.

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I asked if she was all right about me doing it and she said ”yes, mmmm”.

‘

But he said the air turned blue when his flatmate came to, accusing him of being a ‘molester’.

Grainge said he really cared for his two female flatmates and believed they cared for him.

Denying he took advantage of his victim, he said: ‘Why would I want to ruin my life?’
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