A retired painter and decorator, released from jail after being wrongly convicted of child abuse, today spoke of the "bad dream" that has wrecked his life.

Ronald Tate, 65, is now back at home with his family in North Yorkshire after his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in London.

But despite spending almost four months behind bars since April - when a jury found him guilty on 12 counts of indecently assaulting two girls - he declared today: "I am not bitter."

The judge at York Crown Court sentenced him to three-and-a-half years in prison, and Mr Tate, of Powell Street, Selby, said it was the worst moment of his life. It sounded like a lifetime," he said.

Mr Tate's son, Michael, added: "I have never seen so much shock in somebody's face.

"The jury said they had found him guilty and straight away he was branded a dirty old man."

Mr Tate's three sons, Michael, David and Barry, never gave up the fight to clear their father's name.

Michael said: "It has been terrible for all of us, but now he can walk down the street with his head high, vindicated as an innocent man."

Barry said: "It is not a case of four months in prison - he effectively served three years waiting while the whole thing went on.

"It has been awful and we have all suffered for it - people looking at you in the street, pointing and whispering, people at work finding out. But everybody who knows him and us have been behind us from day one. There has never been any doubt for them.

"It is going to take him a long time to get over it. You can't switch off from it. It is always going to be there."

Ronald Tate had been accused of indecently assaulting two girls, when they were aged five and six, over a 10-year period more than two decades ago.

Describing the moment at Wolds Prison when he discovered his appeal had succeeded, Mr Tate said: "I was asleep in my cell and I woke up when a screw came and got me. He said he had some bad news. I said, 'Don't tell me it's not going ahead'. But he was winding me up. He told me to sit down and said, 'You're a free man'. "I was shaking like a leaf. I just could not believe it."

Mr Tate said of the whole experience: "I am not bitter. It has just been like a bad dream. That's how I feel. Even being released has not sunk in yet."

Mr Tate's solicitor, Selby-based Keith Haggerty, said today that he was delighted that, in the end justice, had been done.

He said: "This has been going on for about 18 months, and for a man of his age who has never been in trouble it has been an absolute nightmare.

"It's a shame he has had to spend four months behind bars, but at least his character is now completely without stain."

Mr Haggerty added: "I just hope people will take as much notice of the acquittal as they did of the conviction."

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