A MAN accused of stealing money from foreign students employed on a farm has been cleared by a jury.

Owain Meale was a welfare officer for Haygrove Fruit in Little Marcle Road, Ledbury, before he was sacked over unconnected incidents.

He was responsible for looking after the interests of students who worked as seasonal pickers, Worcester Crown Court heard.

But three Latvian students alleged that he pocketed their savings which they left in his safe keeping.

Romaulds Korjakis lost £3,635 which was being held in a bank account, said prosecutor William Rickarby.

Mr Meale admitted withdrawing the cash but claimed he handed it in to the farm office. But no other staff recalled receiving it.

Another student, Iryna Mayboroda, was "very upset" when £650 she asked Mr Meale to pay into her account never arrived.

She claimed she had a number of conversations with him and he gave her different answers. They included giving the cash to another member of staff who he expected would pay it into the bank.

A third student, Victor Chornobab, alleged he handed £550 to the defendant in an envelope with his name on it.

But Mr Meale insisted he never received the cash and accused Mr Chornobab of "jumping on the bandwagon" after hearing he had been sacked.

A jury cleared 29-year-old Mr Meale, of Martins Way, Ledbury, of three counts of theft.

After the verdicts, Recorder Daniel Pearce-Higgins QC expressed concern about the financial system used by the fruit farm. Mr Rickarby said the police had given the company advice about tightening up.

Mr Rickarby had alleged the defendant took advantage of Haygrove's system during 2000 and 2001 which "left something to be desired".

He had eventually been sacked over unsatisfactory work, which entailed collecting money from the bank over the permissable limit.

Nicolas Cartwright, defending, said there were 300 workers on site during the summer and vast sums of money were handled.

Although it was agreed by Mr Meale that two sums of money had gone missing, it was a very small proportion of the volume of transactions carried out.

Mr Cartwright said: "Possibilities existed for money to be mislaid. The system wasn't watertight."

He said that after Mr Meale was sacked, the finger of suspicion was unfairly pointed at him. But in the case of the £3,635, he had faxed the bank to withdraw it and had signed a withdrawal form - hardly the behaviour of a thief.

Mr Cartwright told the jury they could not be sure that Mr Meale, who had no previous convictions, took the money. He added: "Somewhere it went astray. No one was keen to accept their responsibilities."