A FORMER police officer has been cleared of allegations that he sexually assaulted a young girl.

It had been claimed that William Black indecently touched the girl at an allotment.

But he told a jury that no such incident took place and his defence counsel suggested during cross examination of the girl that she had been attention seeking.

The defendant, 73, of Whalley Road, Read, had denied two charges of indecent assault.

The allegations dated back to the 1990s.

Miss Jane Dagnall, for the prosecution at Preston Crown Court, claimed that he sexually assaulted the girl when she visited the allotment at Read.

The court heard the defendant had been the local police officer until he retired in 1998 and he kept things like hens, chickens and geese on his allotment where children would visit to feed the animals.

It was alleged that he twice indecently assaulted her in his shed and afterwards gave her sweets and told her not to tell anyone.

Mr Black allegedly sat her on his knee and afterwards told her not to tell anyone and gave her sweets.

In 2002 the girl told a school nurse what had taken place and the police launched an investigation in 2005.

The former police officer said he remembered meeting the girl once at the allotment when she visited with her mother, but couldn't recall if she had ever returned.

The jury found him not guilty of both charges at the end of a Preston Crown Court trial which lasted a week.