A MAN has been cleared of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old schoolgirl during a drink and drugs party at his Newton Abbot home.

Adam Leech was acquitted in the space of less than an hour after telling a jury at Exeter Crown Court that his drinks had been spiked with ecstasy.

He said he had little memory of what happened after that but was sure he had not touched the girl, who was visiting his home with a 17-year-old friend to party with his partner.

He said he believed the schoolgirl to be at least 16 and said she had been drinking vodka on the night and had previously smoked cannabis in his garden shed.

He said he would not have taken ecstasy voluntarily because he was applying for a job as a bus driver and had been told he would be drug tested at his interview.

Leech, aged 50, of Hockmore Drive, Newton Abbot, denied sexual activity with a child and inciting a child to sexual activity and was found not guilty.

During the three-day trial, the complainant, now 18, said she and a friend went to Ms Uglow’s home in late 2019 for a party where drink and drugs were taken.

She said Leech put a hand down the back of her joggers while they were alone in the kitchen and later asked her to touch him.

She said he had gone to bed and she and her friend went upstairs to check on him and found him wearing just boxers and touching himself. She said he asked her to touch him and she refused but that her 17-year-old friend did so.

Leech said all the allegations were false. He said his relationship with his partner had ended as a result of the case and neither of them have care of their five children currently.