A shopkeeper has been cleared of molesting a girl he accused of stealing chewing gum.

Rajendran Sellathurai, 39, had been accused of tickling the 12-year-old and then touching her breast and pinching her nipple through her clothing.

But a jury at Maidstone Crown Court took less than an hour to decide Mr Sellathurai was not guilty of sexual assault.

The court heard that the girl had gone into the convenience store in Carnation Road, Strood, last August.

As she paid for a drink and sweets, she claimed Mr Sellathurai held her hand "in a strange manner" and began to rub it.

The girl alleged he then pulled her arm closer to him and began to tickle her before touching her breast and nipple.

She told another customer outside the shop: "That man touched me. He is a pervert."

But Mr Sellathurai, of Arngask Road, Catford, told police that he had caught the girl shoplifting chewing gum.

Prosecutor Simon Taylor told the jury at the start of the trial: "He denied the offence. He said any touching of her was a consequence of him retrieving the chewing gum and pushing her out of the store."