A 24-YEAR-old former cabbie, said to have molested a teenager in the street, has been cleared.

Lee Smith, formerly of Brunswick Street, Burnley, was found not guilty of indecent assault on the direction of Judge David Pirie, at Burnley Crown Court.

The move came after Mark Rhind, prosecuting, offered no further evidence following the alleged victim's evidence that he was "90 per cent sure" Smith was the culprit.

Smith, who had denied the charge, was discharged from the dock.

The 16-year-old had told how a man had "followed" him as he walked home from work at night, last September.

The youth said the man he had believed to be Smith had walked behind him, then passed in front of him, turned round and grabbed him indecently.

Under cross-examination by John Woodward, defending, the complainant said he was 90 per cent sure Smith had assaulted him.

Mr Woodward suggested: "You can't be sure, can you, because there's that ten per cent doubt, isn't there?" The boy: "Yes."

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