Cleared: Driving instructor not guilty on sex assault claims by pupils

Darren Sutton, from Wollaston, denied inappropriately touching both pupils while they were on lessons with him.

And at the end of a two-day trial yesterday, Dudley magistrates found the 42-year-old not guilty of two counts of sexual assault.

They said 'discrepancies' in the evidence given by the two pupils meant the case had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

Sutton, of The Kingsway, had refuted all of the allegations made against him.

During the trial, magistrates were told one of the victims had made a complaint to police, leading to an investigation where the other had come forward.

The court was told neither pupil had made a complaint to police straight away, with years passing for one of them.

Magistrates watched a recording where the first pupil gave a statement to the police.

She claimed during her second driving lesson with Sutton he had started to talk about sexual positions and asked what her concentration was like.

She said he had then stroked her leg on three occasions. He had also told her to 'pull down her leggings', the court was told.

The pupil also appeared at court and was questioned why she did not report the matter to police straight away.

She said at the time she had been preparing for her A-levels and did not want the 'added pressure'.

The pupil also told the court she had not been aware of an incident where her mother had confronted Sutton in a supermarket car park and had not been 'encouraged' by anyone to make a complaint.

But this conflicted with evidence later given by the pupil's mother.

The second pupil also gave evidence and said Sutton had started making suggestive comments and innuendos. She said on her final lesson with him, he had touched her thigh.

During questioning, Mr Gerry Vahey, defending Sutton, questioned the dates given for the offences and the pupil admitted she had got the dates wrong by a year.

Sutton, who was arrested in June 2014, also gave evidence and denied all of the charges against him saying he had never spoken to the pupils in an inappropriate fashion and had not touched them.

Mr Vahey said: "The case against my client has not been proved beyond reasonable doubt.

"There is conflicting evidence and one of them was one year out in her dates. There is reason for doubt."

But Miss Charlotte Gessey, prosecuting, argued the pupils, who did not known each other, had given a consistent accounts.