A TAXI driver from Millom has been cleared of sex abuse charges following a trial at Preston Crown Court.

John Stephens, 69, always denied the allegations after a man came forward complaining he had been abused by Stephens in the 1980s.

Stephens, a former Sellafield worker, who drove a taxi at the weekend, told the court he had no idea why the man would make such complaints.

“It has all been like a bad dream,” he said.

The jury took less than two hours to clear Stephens of all the charges against him.

The retired driver, who went by the nickname ‘Fred’, admitted he did not make much money from driving the taxi but said it gave him something to do at the weekends as he did not drink or go to pubs.

During the trial, the man claimed he had confronted Stephens outside his house and called him a paedophile, when he saw him last summer.

But Stephens, of Holborn Hill, Millom, told the court he had no recollection of any confrontation.

He also insisted he had never behaved inappropriately towards the boy, although he said he had a ‘jokey’ friendship with the lad.