A Kurdish asylum seeker has been cleared of raping a prostitute but he was not in Court to hear the verdict.

Teenager Kermang Saleh had been on bail throughout his trial at Bradford Crown Court, but he failed to turn up yesterday when the jury retired to consider the evidence.

Less than an hour later, the four women and eight men came back into court to deliver their not guilty verdict, but the 19-year-old had still not arrived. After the verdict was returned Judge James Stewart QC indicated that the teenager had absconded.

"He'll have to answer for the bail act offence whatever happens,'' said Judge Stewart, "I'll issue a warrant for his arrest.''

The prosecution had alleged that Saleh, of Lytton Road, Girlington, had carried out the sex attack on the prostitute last September - only five months after arriving in this country.

The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, claimed she had been raped in an alleyway near the city centre after she refused to have sex with a man.

Saleh was pointed out to police officers soon after the alleged attack, but he said he was not involved and was on his way to visit a friend.

The prostitute, who is serving a prison sentence for theft and robbery, denied defence suggestions that she had made the report to the police after something happened with a client. Saleh, who speaks little English and needed the assistance of an interpreter during his trial, said he was confused and did not know what the police had arrested him for when he was stopped in the street.

He explained to the jury how he had fled his home in northern Iraq after he refused to join Saddam Hussein's political party.