BURNLEY county councillor Howard Eccles has been cleared of an indecent assault charge after crown court prosecutors dropped the case against him.

Coun Eccles, 60, had denied the alleged offence against another man, said to have taken place near his home in Casterton Avenue late at night on July 28, 1997.

And when he appeared at Preston Crown Court, Miss Rachael Woods, prosecuting, offered no evidence and a not guilty verdict was entered.

She told the court it was not in the public interest to have a trial because of the age of the offence which was at the lower end of the scale and the serious ill health of the defendant.

An order was made for Coun Eccles' defence costs, understood to run to several thousand pounds, to be paid from public funds.

Coun Eccles has suffered ill health for some time and late last year underwent multiple heart by-pass surgery in Blackpool.

He represented Fulledge ward as a Labour representative on Burnley council for eight years but did not seek re-election last year when the charge still hung over him.

The former Air Training Corps chief and active member of Burnley Community Health Council represents the Worsthorne and Cliviger rural seat on Lancashire county.

Now retired, Coun Eccles ran a confectionery shop in Lyndhurst Road for many years. He was not available for comment today.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.