A man has been cleared of strangling and sexually assaulting his ex-girlfirend.

Matthew Walker, 35, sobbed in court today as the jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court found him not guilty of all charges.

During a four-day trial, jurors had heard how Mr Walker had gone to the home of his ex-girlfriend in Finsbury in the early hours of the morning of December 12 last year.

He was accused of attacking the woman in her bed, leaving her with bruising around her eyes and to her throat.

But during the trial Walker maintained that he had never punched his ex-partner and that all sexual activity had been consensual.

He had told the court that the situation on the evening in question had changed when he told his former girlfriend that he had been seeing other woman.

The police were called after an argument.

Following his arrest by police, Mr Walker had attempted to jump off a balcony but had been stopped by police.

Walker had later told the court that this action had been triggered by confusion and feelings of utter despair as a result of the police having been called.

He said: “I was distressed. She had just called the police and I did not know why. I was in a horrific mood I just felt awful really.”

Mr Walker, Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire, was found not guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and sexual assault.