A husband and wife have been cleared of sexually assaulting a woman after asking her to join them in a "threesome".

David and Sarah Finan showed their relief as the jury returned not guilty verdicts after deliberating for just 30 minutes.

The woman had claimed the couple separately molested her despite her rebuffing them. But they insisted that any sexual touching was by consent.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the three and others went back to the Finans' home on St Mary's Island during an evening of drinking in October 2014.

Sarah Finan, 37, and the other woman had previously had “boob jobs” and at one point rubbed their breasts together and posed as David Finan, 41, took photos.

The woman, who cannot be identified, claimed she was assaulted after others in the house had gone to bed.

She told the jury from behind screens that Sarah Finan invited her upstairs for sex.

“That was the first time I felt uncomfortable,” she said. “She didn’t look like she was joking.”

"This is something I would never, ever do. It's a criminal act. I'm very respectful to women and I'm very respectful to my wife" - David Finan

Asked why she did not leave, she replied: “I had no reason to believe it would go any further. She hadn’t forced herself on me. I put it down to her being really drunk, crazy.”

The couple, of Meadowsweet View, St Mary’s Island, denied assault by penetration.

Sarah Finan, who ran an arts and crafts business, claimed in evidence that her sexual contact with the woman was consensual.

“There was a lot of sexual tension,” she said. “We had all had a few drinks. It had gone a bit further than comparing boobs."

Asked if she would have touched the woman if she had not consented, she replied: “Absolutely not. Dave and I would not do that. We would not jeopardise our family - never in a million years.”

David Finan told the court he was excited at the thought of a threesome,but denied that he and his wife were “swingers”. It was the “first and last time” it had been considered.

The suggestion of asking the woman to join them in bed, he said, was made by his wife.

“I was quite excited by it,” he said. “I’m a bloke. My inhibitions were low and I thought it was going to be great.”

Mr Finan said the woman had looked at him provocatively while she and his wife were exposing their breasts and described the atmosphere as “sexy”.

When they were alone together they kissed while he knelt in front of her and then touched her breast.

The investment bank technology manager said he touched her intimately for a few seconds before putting his hand back on her breast because he was “a boob man”.

Mr Finan said it came a “natural stop” when the woman said her head was messed up and she was having an affair. He then backed off.

“She said if it had been three months earlier when she wasn’t having an affair it would have been a definite yes,” said Mr Finan.

He added that the woman consented to the intimacy and he would have stopped immediately if she had not.

“This is something I would never, ever do,” he said. “It’s a criminal act. I’m very respectful to women and I’m very respectful to my wife.”

He added he would not risk his family life or career for an “abhorrent, disgusting crime”.