A TEACHER from Bromsgrove has been cleared of indecent assaults on pupils after a four-day trial.

William Hughes, who taught in Redditch after being made redundant from his job of general manager at Birmingham Rep, insisted he was the victim of school "tittle-tattle".

A jury at Worcester Crown Court rejected claims by three seven-year-olds that he touched them inappropriately during lessons.

The jury unanimously found Mr Hughes, a 48-year-old family man, of Fox Lane, Rock Hill, Bromsgrove, not guilty of five counts of indecent assault.

He was arrested on March 27 last year after a girl complained to her mother that he put his hand up her dress.

He was told then he would not be prosecuted but was re-arrested after another girl and a boy made allegations.

Mr Hughes called the complaints "preposterous" and told police his teaching area was very visible to other classrooms and he never knew who would walk in next. Nobody ever saw any misbehaviour.

Defence counsel Peter Haynes said there was malicious gossip about Mr Hughes in his class, which was reinforced when his accusers attended the same birthday party.

He claimed the children became caught up in a vortex of youthful fantasy and had told lies as a way of belonging to a gang.

He described Mr Hughes as a man of the utmost integrity who was reliable and trustworthy.