A Forest of Dean District councillor has been cleared by a jury today (May 19) of raping a woman five times.When the jury of six men and five women at Gloucester Crown Court returned their not guilty verdicts on all five counts of the rape of a woman seven years ago, recently re-elected Independent councillor Ian Whitburn, 60 collapsed in the dock with relief.Trial judge Recorder Neil Millard told Mr Whitburn, of Newland Street, Coleford, that he was free to leave the courtroom.Recorder Millard then thanked the jury for their diligence in the case. The jury had spent four hours and seventeen minutes in deliberation today before returning to court to announce their decision.It was the second time Cllr Whitburn had stood trial in the same case - last August he was cleared by an earlier jury of three allegations of rape and one of using controlling and co-ercive behaviour. But that jury failed to agree on verdicts on the remaining five rape allegations and the prosecution called for a retrial - which has ended today with not guilty verdicts on all the outstanding counts.Cllr Whitburn told the jury during his retrial that the woman’s allegations were all 'vindictive lies' and he maintained throughout that he had never forced anybody to have sex.Mr Whitburn said: “We didn’t have sex when she said I raped her. These are all vindictive lies. End of story.”