A BARROW woman has spoken of her relief after her brother was cleared of charges for possessing indecent images.

David Wilkinson, 48, from Dalton, appeared in court this month accused of having child pornography and bestiality images on his computer.

Two of the images found on Mr Wilkinson’s computer were of the most severe ‘Class A’ type, two had the less-severe ‘Class B’ grade and one other was of ‘extreme animal porn.’

However, prosecutors could find no evidence of searches or activity related to the images on Mr Wilkinson’s device.

The charges brought against him were finally dropped last week at Preston Crown Court.

“It’s ruined his life,” said Carol Wilkinson, Mr Wilkinson’s sister.

“He’s had his car vandalised, he lost his job and he’s received heaps of abuse from keyboard warriors online.”

Ms Wilkinson said her brother worked as a driver at a private bus hire company before losing his job after the allegations were brought against him.

Mr Wilkinson said he does not know how the images appeared on his computer.

His sister continued: “It’s obviously a relief his name has been cleared in the courts - now it’s about clearing his name publicly after all the reputational damage caused by the whole ordeal.”

“At the end of the day, this has dragged on for two years, has caused us huge amounts of grief and has cost the taxpayer god knows how many thousands of pounds - just to finally conclude that he hadn’t done anything wrong.”