A BASINGSTOKE man accused of historical sex offences has been cleared after a trial.

A jury of nine men and three women took just over an hour this afternoon to acquit Gary Edwards of two counts of rape and one count of indecent assault.

Mr Edwards, 46, of Willmott Way, Winklebury, put his hand to his mouth on hearing the verdict, and thanked the jury, before walking out of the dock and embracing his friends and family at Winchester Crown Court.

He had always denied raping a teenage girl in the early 1990s, when she was a teenager and he was in his 20s.

The prosecution claimed during the four-day trial that Mr Edwards had befriended a teenage girl, plied her with cannabis before raping her over a period of several months.

But giving evidence, he described the account as “fiction”, and said nothing sexual took place between him and the girl during their brief relationship.

The court heard that on his arrest last year, Mr Edwards denied ever having sex with the girl or threatening her, and laughed at the suggestion of controlling her.

For more on this story, see The Gazette on Thursday.