A TAXI driver who denied making a series of sexual suggestions to young girls he was taking to school has been cleared by a jury.

Syed Shah, 27, told police he had made ‘joking’ references to sex while talking with the girls, aged 13 to 15, en-route to their school in Blackburn.

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But jurors at Burnley Crown Court heard that Shah knew the girls were under-age and had no intentions of taking matters any further.

Shah, of Thurston Street, Burnley, pleaded not guilty to seven offences of inciting under-age girls to engage in sexual activity.

He was found not guilty of six of the offences after a five-day trial and he was acquitted of a seventh charge on the direction of trial judge Andrew Woolman.

The court heard the cabbie, who worked for Prince’s Taxis in Burnley, took the girls on the school run, from Burnley to Blackburn, when his cousin, their regular driver, was unavailable.

After his arrest he told police that one of the girls had approached him to become his Facebook ‘friend’ and sent him pictures of herself.

He told officers he knew the girls were under-age but would listen as they talked about ‘smoking weed’ and drinking alcohol in Burnley town centre.