A THURROCK teacher broke down in tears as he was cleared of all charges relating to grooming and having sex with a pupil at his school – and the judge hearing the trial slammed the police and Crown Prosecution Service for bringing the case to court on flimsy evidence that she described as 'chaff'.

It was based on the allegations of a young woman who accused 46-year-old Colin Yeomans, a senior teacher at St Clere's School in Stanford-le-Hope, of a range of historic offences that took place when she was a 15 and 16-year-old pupil at the school more than 15 years ago.

Her allegations were ripped apart in the summary given at the end of a five day trial by Judge Samantha Ceri Leigh. She gave no direction to the jury of nine women and three men but her detailed analysis of the evidence and the strength of Mr Yeomans' repudiations left little doubt as to where her thoughts were.

And, when the jury returned, they were unanimous in clearing Mr Yeomans of 20 charges which included indecent assault of a girl under 16, inciting a child into sexual activity and sexual assault of a child while in a position of trust.

The defence counsel described Mr Yeomans as "devastated and broken" by the allegations.

After thanking the jury for their verdict and with Mr Yeomans and members of his family in the public gallery in tears, Judge Leigh immediately rounded on the prosecuting counsel and said: ""I have said time and time again the quality of prosecution evidence has got to improve. Yet again this is another example of it. You can't just put chaff in front of a jury, your evidence must have a structured approach. I trust you will pass this message on to the police and Crown Prosecution."

The 'chaff' the judge was referring to was a sequence of statements made by the alleged victim who made a series of damning allegations against Mr Yeomans, but no evidence was able to be brought to court to back it up.

Effectively the police took her evidence on face value but the jury viewed it all to be fabricated after hearing the judge offer detailed analysis.

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One of the main strands of her allegations was that Mr Yeomans had travelled to Dorset to have sex with her one Easter. Mr Yeomans' defence team were not made aware of the timing of the allegation until the trial at Basildon Crown Court, which started last week, but once they were aware they were able to prove that Mr Yeomans had been with his family in Surrey and on a stag weekend in Blackpool over the holiday.

Earlier in the trial prosecutor Jane Oldfield, who didn't even stay to hear the verdict after leading the trial, had told the jury that Mr Yeomans, who lives in Great Notley, was working as a PE teacher and head of year at St Clere's when the alleged offences took place in the 2003/04 academic year.

Ms Oldfield had told the court: "It was a gross abuse of trust of a young girl who was manipulated and taken advantage of by the defendant."

In the end – and after a period of two years during which Mr Yeomans has been suspended from his job, the jury found that it was the girl, who reported the offences to the police in 2018, who was manipulating events.

The jury had heard a succession of senior people involved in borough education, including fellow teachers and senior administrators from other schools, pay tribute to the character and ability of Mr Yeomans.

Their evidence went to indicate that many of the allegations that the alleged victim, who cannot be named, were not able to have happened due to safeguarding rules and regulations. They told how it would have been 'impossible' for Mr Yeomans to have carried out many of the things he was alleged to have done within the school environment.

St Clere's headteacher Mrs Ashlie Hughes has contacted parents at the school with the following statement: "Concerning historic allegations against a member of St Clere's teaching staff, I can confirm the trial took place last week and the jury have now reached a verdict. Mr Yeomans has been found not guilty on all charges.

"While we now review the case through our HR and employment policies, Mr Yeomans will remain off work."

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