A FORMER soldier has been found not guilty of repeated sexual attacks on a boy.

Christian Draper, 41, of Front Street, Acomb, York, was found not guilty of alleged serious sexual assaults on the child in Selby in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

York Crown Court had heard the alleged victim had suffered from violence and intimidation from Draper before the sexual offences started, explaining in part why he had remained silent at the time about what was happening.

However, a jury at York Crown Court unanimously found Draper not guilty of four counts of serious sexual assualt.

At the judge’s direction, Draper was earlier also accepted to be not guilty of indecent assault and indecency with a child.

Draper said the alleged victim owed him £5,000 and owed another person a further £5,000. He also made other financial allegations about the alleged victim.

He told the jury the stress of being arrested and accused of child abuse had led to him relapsing into heroin use for a time and while in prison on remand he had been attacked.

Following the jury’s verdict, Recorder Adrian Waterman QC released Draper on bail pending a separate legal hearing in the summer.