AN RAF employee has been cleared of a sex offence in a tent at a young firefighters' camp.

Drew Bradbury insisted he was falsely accused because of a vendetta against his family.

A jury at Worcester Crown Court found him not guilty of inciting a 15-year-old to commit an act of gross indecency on him after deliberating for longer than four hours.

The prosecution had alleged that Mr Bradbury, aged 19, of Farriers Corner, Droitwich, got into the tent at Blackwell Court near Bromsgrove on August 14 and asked one of the four girls inside to give him oral sex.

He said he went to the camp to calm his girlfriend down after she made a complaint about a youth there.

He maintained to police that "young lads" who had a grievance put the girl up to making a false complaint to get him kicked out of the RAF.

His barrister Kim Aitken told the jury there had been five complaints of misbehaviour by a number of youths at the 400-strong camp that night.

She also claimed evidence risked contamination because police told the defendant and witnesses to turn up at the same time for an identification parade.

Two girls picked Mr Bradbury out as the tent intruder. But Miss Aitken suggested they had put their heads together.

by COURT REPORTER