The boyfriend of the late Amy Winehouse spoke of his hell today after being cleared of raping a woman who slept in his bed.

Reg Traviss, 35, of Devonshire Street, Marylebone, was acquitted by a jury at Southwark Crown Court after less than three hours’ deliberation.

Leaving court he hit out at the authorities for not stopping “the train” of a very weak prosecution and said he hoped to fall in love again after losing the Back To Black singer in July last year.

The complainant alleged Traviss twice raped her at his flat after getting drunk together on December 30 last year.

She said despite waking to find him attacking her she went back to bed with him to sleep but found him doing it again.

Today Mr Travis said the police should have dropped the investigation after looking at CCTV that contradicted her version of events.

She told investigators she was so drunk she could not stand up, but footage showed her walking freely and unaided with Mr Traviss to get in a taxi to his flat at 3.40am.

He said: “I am really relieved, really relieved it’s all over. I never did it. The last nine months or however long has been crazy.

“It feels like anyone can make a complaint and end up having their day in court. Being impartial, that’s fair enough and I think it is right.

“I can understand why it’s like that but in reality a train starts running and in this case the person who made the complaint wasn’t investigated, the police didn’t know anything about her.”

The film director said the authorities did not want to stop the prosecution for various reasons. He said he did not think “for one minute” that the police or Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) thought he was guilty. “I don’t think the judge thought I did it either,” he said.

Calling for anonymity for defendants in rape cases, Mr Traviss said the complainant was either mentally ill or could have had a financial agenda.

The trial heard that the woman, 27, often talked about being “skint” and that she accepted �25 from Mr Traviss the morning after for money she had spent on drinks.

Mr Traviss, supported by his friends and brother Richard who screamed with joy at the verdict, said: “In a nutshell she is either mentally ill or she is evil and had an agenda.

“Whether or not that worked out or would be fulfilled, she was also on that train and had to see it through to the end.”

Mr Traviss said he believed if he had been convicted the complainant may have tried to sue him. “It could have been purely monetary,” he said.

He added: “She might have perceived it as a one-night stand and felt ashamed and tried to justify it by saying I have taken advantage of her. None of us know why she did it.”

Mr Traviss said he had had a torrid time since Miss Winehouse’s death with an “unreal 18 months” but hoped he was over the worst and could fall in love again.

He has recently been photographed kissing the actress Sheridan Smith, whom he thanked for her support. Asked if he could fall in love again, he said: “I suppose, I imagine I could, it’s a difficult question to answer because I wouldn’t want that to be confused with falling in love and someone replacing Amy because no, but to put it out there, that’s how I feel.”

Of Ms Smith he added: “She was a real source of strength and help through this, yeah absolutely, and she’s a great girl as well and she knows what she knows and says what she means. She’s pretty much from the heart and straight down the line.”

The complainant told police the first time she woke with Mr Traviss having sex with her he stopped when told to. She said they then drank wine on his sofa before she trusted him to go back to bed with her. She said the second time she woke up she thought it was a dream in which she was sleeping with her ex-boyfriend.

She only thought she had been raped the second time after getting “some fresh air” and thinking about it later. She said she was too exhausted to flee the flat and could not find her underwear.

In a highly unusual move, Mr Traviss’s barrister Ian Winter QC spoke out upon acquittal saying the allegations should not have got so far.

He said: “I don’t think in my career I have defended a case where I have been so sure of my client’s innocence.

“What is unbelievable is that if we hadn’t found them coming out of the nightclub on that CCTV which the police had, and the footage of them walking to the toilets, there could have been a real risk of a miscarriage of justice.

“When I saw the CCTV it was clear she could not have been that drunk.

“The Crown should not have brought the case and I don’t think the police looked at the CCTV.”