A BARRISTER accused of an attempted sex act with a teenage boy has been cleared of the charge.

Rupert Massey, 71, who had always denied any incident took place, was found not guilty by a jury at Bournemouth Crown Court yesterday.

Mr Massey, of Langdon Place, London, had been accused of carrying out an offence against a boy, aged around 14 or 15 years old, during a weekend trip to Massey’s grandmother’s Poole home nearly 40 years ago.

The barrister was cleared of one charge of an attempted sex act with a boy under the age of 16, alleged to have been committed between October 29, 1977, and October 28, 1979.

Earlier the jury, of seven women and five men, heard how Mr Massey was involved in youth work until 1998 and had many children staying at the address in Eaton Road.

However, Mr Massey told Bournemouth Crown Court he did not recall the boy who made the allegation ever staying there.