A MAN has wept after being cleared of Lake District child sex abuse allegations which he strenuously denied.
Richard William Philpotts, 63, went on trial at Carlisle Crown Court having pleaded not guilty to four charges – all relating to the same male complainant.
These alleged an indecent assault, indecency, a further sexual offence and an attempted sex crime.
But this afternoon (FRI), having heard all evidence in the case, a jury of nine men and three women found Mr Philpotts not guilty of all charges.
All arose out of alleged incidents in the Windermere area, during the early 1990s, while he was on a camping trip with three boys.
Mr Philpotts – a former RAF corporal and scoutmaster of Stowmarket, Suffolk – had insisted in evidence he had done nothing wrong. And he wept after the jury’s verdicts were returned.
Recorder Julie Clemitson said: “Mr Philpotts, you may leave the dock.”