A man accused of dragging a teenager out of McDonald's before raping her in a car park has been cleared by a jury.

Mahamud Ali, 23, who claimed the student consented to sex, was freed from custody following the not guilty verdict.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the woman had been out with friends in Canterbury during freshers week in October last year.

Before going out, she said she drank five rum and cokes and had more drinks at The Cuban bar in the High Street.

She left at 2.30am and a little later went to McDonald's to get some food. While she was at the counter she was approached by Ali.

The student alleged she was led off by the wrist and taken to a deserted car park off Link Lane, around the corner. There, she said Ali raped her.

Ali was identified on CCTV footage and when questioned by police he denied it was him or that he had any sexual contact with anyone that night.

But after he was later told his DNA was on swabs from the woman, he claimed she had consented to intercourse.

He suggested in evidence that the 19-year-old cried rape because he told her she would not see him again after he had intercourse with her.

"I regret it now," he said. "If I hadn't said that I probably wouldn't be in this mess I am in now.

"Her face turned to an upset kind of face. It then turned to an angry face.

"She said 'What do you think I am, some sort of w**** or something?' She just walked off before I could reply."

Denying rape, Ali, from Tooting, south London, claimed he met the girl earlier in the evening and they kissed. He saw her again later in McDonald's.

She went willingly with him to the car park, he said, where they smoked a joint.

They sat down on some steps and she performed a sex act on him before having intercourse, he added.