A 61-YEAR-old partially sighted man has been cleared of stealing an £18 pair of binoculars from a flea market.

A jury at Burnley Crown Court took just four minutes to find him not guilty of theft after a one-day trial.

Young, of Fern Road, Burnley, was discharged from the dock by Judge Barbara Watson. He has no criminal convictions.

A bric-a-brac stall holder had told the court she believed Young deliberately took the binoculars from her stall and put them in his bag.

The defendant, who also suffers from multiple sclerosis, said the binoculars were passed to him by another man, they fell from his grasp and landed on top of his bag.