A jury has unanimously cleared a former Suffolk man of sexually assaulting two schoolgirls more than three decades ago.

Before Ipswich Crown Court was Ceridgwyn Gillham, 51, who denied 10 offences of indecent assault.

The offences were alleged to have been committed between 1977 and 1984 when he was living at the Manse in Cratfield.

The jury unanimously acquitted Gillham this afternoon after a week long trial.

Giving evidence during the trial Gillham said there had never been any sexual contact between him and the two alleged victims and he accused them of inventing the allegations.

“The events they have described, they didn’t happen,” said Gillham.

“I had no desire to do anything like that.”

Cross-examined by prosecution counsel David Wilson, Gillham agreed he wasn’t contending that he and the alleged victims had engaged in “childish experimentation during which boundaries were crossed”.

Gillham was alleged to have touched the girls inappropriately when they were as young as six and seven and has always denied the allegations.