A jury in the trial of a Suffolk man who denied sexually assaulting a schoolgirl in the cellar of an Ipswich pub more than 30 years ago took less than half-an-hour to clear him today.
Before Ipswich Crown Court was Paul Hughes, 59, who was in his twenties in the 1980s when the alleged assault took place in the Live and Let Live pub in Wherstead Road.
Hughes, of Meadowlands Close, Yoxford, denied indecently assaulting a girl aged eight and ten between November 1982 and November 1985 and was unanimously found not guilty by a jury after 24 minutes of deliberations following a trial this week.
The alleged abuse came to light after the alleged victim confided in her partner in 2014.
Hughes denied having any sexual contact with the alleged victim and said he didn’t know anything about the allegation she had made.
The court has heard that he told police he was “revolted” by the allegation.
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