Men cleared of historic sex abuse claims

Two men who faced charges of historical sexual abuse have been cleared on all counts after a lengthy trial at Burnley Crown Court.
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John Pye (56), of Saxon Street, Burnley, and his co-defendant Paul Harrold (54), of Craven Street, Barnoldswick, had been in the dock for four weeks weeks for the trial facing 11 charges involving two females.

The jury took two days to clear both men on all counts.

Mrs Joanna Rodikis (defending Pye) had described the chief complainant as “manipulative and dangerous.”

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Pye faced two counts of rape of a girl under 16 from June 1976 to June 1980, one count of rape from June 1978 to July 1983, five indecent assaults from June 1976 to June 1982, indecency with a child and one count of rape of a woman from April 1993 to May 1993.

Harrold faced a charge of rape of a girl under 16 from June 1976 to June 1980.

Ten of the charges related to one complaintant, who claimed she was abused by the two defendants when she was a schoolgirl.

Mrs Rodikis told the jury that the complainant had made several unsubstantiated complaints of sexual abuse in the past against her GP and members of her family.

She added: “This is a woman with a complete warped sense of reality. She has a callous disregard for other people and a blame mentality.”

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