A 37-YEAR-OLD man has been cleared of sexually abusing a girl of 10 who claimed he had repeatedly fondled her.
Carl Lynch was found not guilty of three allegations of indecent assault after a three-day trial at Burnley Crown Court.
The defendant, then of Lancaster Drive, Clayton-le-Moors, and now of Smithills Close, Chorley, who had denied the charges, was discharged.
The alleged victim had claimed the defendant struck five times over a year but said she was too scared to reveal what was going on.
Richard Hunt, defending, told the jury the girl, who had not been doing well at school at the time, had made up her claims.
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