A PE teacher has been acquitted of having a sexual relationship with a pupil.

Colin Yeomans stood trial at Basildon Crown Court for 20 counts of various child sex offences relating to a girl under 16.

The charges related to alleged incidents with the girl in the 2003-2004 academic year of the school.

The woman had alleged he had sexually abused her on multiple occasions throughout the year and that they were in a relationship after he coerced her into it.

However, a jury of nine women and three men found the 46-year-old unanimously not guilty of all charges against him.

Mr Yeomans, of Priory Lane, Great Notley, took to the witness box himself last week to deny all wrongdoing, saying the abuse he was accused of “was not possible”.

He had stated the woman’s descriptions of his home, where she alleged they had sex, along with the acts she described doing on a bus to be inaccurate.

He also stated that during an alleged incident where the woman stated they met up while she was on a family holiday was not possible as he was visiting family with his wife at the time.

He also denied ever intentionally writing anything sexual in messages he put in her yearbook.

In the end, the jury found his defence as credible and were not satisfied that the allegations were proven against Mr Yeomans.