THE ordeal of a Kent teacher accused of groping one teenage girl in his class and assaulting another has ended after he was found not guilty by a court.

A jury of eight men and four women at Maidstone Crown Court took just 15 minutes to decide that Clement Rutter was innocent.

After the verdict Mr Rutter said 2004 had been a living hell but despite having his good name dragged through the courts he didn't feel bitterness towards the two girls who brought him there.

Mr Rutter, 52, who lives with his family in Weston Road, Strood, had to endure the false allegations for more than a year while nursing his wife, Alison, through the final stages of cancer. She died in March this year.

The nightmare for the former Medway councillor began last year when he was placed on a secondment to a school in Dartford to teach computer science and IT.

But after one of his pupils, a 14-year-old girl, said he had touched her bottom in February last year, Mr Rutter found himself suspended from the school and banned from having any contact with his colleagues. But it took another three months for Mr Rutter to be suspended after the allegations were made.

Mr Rutter said: "I have no idea why it took so long for it to come through and I haven't got a clue how it all happened."

Having gone through the ordeal, he says more needs to be done to protect teachers from similar accusations.

He said: "It's an occupational hazard for any teacher. There's 1,700 teachers suspended with these allegations. Ninety six per cent of those teachers are not guilty; it's a hell of a lot. The whole balance of the system is titled against the teaching profession."

Teachers union NASUWT is now campaigning for teachers who are alleged to have assaulted pupils to remain anonymous. He stressed: "There's no network of help and teachers are not prone to ask for assistance.

"Allegations like this can lead to some teachers committing suicide."

Despite the allegations, Mr Rutter has not been put off teaching and is waiting to hear whether he will return to the classroom in September. With the case over he is now looking forward to spending a holiday in France.