FORMER Morecambe FC coach David Jones was cleared this week of all child abuse allegations against him after the prosecution at his trial at Liverpool Crown Court said no evidence was being offered.

After the verdict on Tuesday, Mr Jones said he was "very happy" and paid tribute to his family and friends for supporting him during the past 18 months. He also praised his legal team who, he said, gave him the confidence to believe that he would be acquitted.

Mr Jones, 44, was arrested as part of Merseyside Police's investigation into alleged child abuse in local care homes codenamed Operation Care.

The former Southampton manager pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. It was alleged that Mr Jones committed the offences over a four year period from February 1986 when he was a care worker at a north Merseyside residential children's home.

Mr Jones told the press: "Being accused came out of the blue, a total shock. I honestly thought I would go to the police station, give my interview and that was going to be it.

"What followed in the year after just got a bigger nightmare for us."

Asked about his departure from Southampton Football Club he said: "I think that is a question that it is too early for me to answer. It has come sooner than I expected. What happened today is a big relief to us.

"I didn't want to leave football. I have got to start from scratch and I'll do that. The support I have had from Southampton players and the chairman Rupert Lowe has been exceptional, regardless of what went on over the job."

Describing his work at the residential school Mr Jones said it was a case of being in the "wrong place wrong time".

Accompanied by his wife Ann, 42, Mr Jones was reunited with his four children at his Southampton home.