A 67-year-old man has today been cleared of sexually assaulting a girl aged 15 and offering her £1,000 to sleep with him.

Ray Spence, who nicknamed the teenager ‘Juicy’, said the cash was to pay for her modelling portfolio.

He was found not guilty by a jury at Bradford Crown Court of all three charges he faced.

Spence, wearing a smart grey suit, shirt and striped tie, was told by Judge Robert Bartfield that he was discharged from the dock and free to go.

He stood trial accused of two offences of sexually assaulting the girl and one of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Prosecutor Peter Moulson said Spence, of Staveley Road, Ingrow, Keighley, bought the girl cigarettes, flowers and scanty underwear. He said he “fancied the pants off her”, pestered her with text messages and squeezed her buttocks.

The teenager said Spence bought her three pairs of thongs.

She claimed he grabbed her face and kissed it and squeezed her buttocks.

She said that when he gave her cigarettes, he put them down her vest top.

Mr Moulson alleged the teenager received a text message from Spence saying: “If I give you £1,000, maybe it will sort these feelings out. What can you get for £1,000?”

Spence told the jury it was inappropriate for him to have put cigarettes down the front of the girl’s top, but denied it was sexually motivated.

He admitted he had £1,000 available to pay for the girl to have a modelling portfolio. He insisted the money was not for sex.

He agreed he called the girl “gorgeous”. He explained that he said he “fancied the pants off her” as a joke, and dismissed calling her Juicy as “just a name”.

He did not see anything inappropriate about buying her thongs.

Spence denied squeezing the girl’s buttocks but said he once put his hand at the side of her bottom as he ushered her out of the kitchen.

The pensioner said he told the girl £1,000 was available if she got modelling work experience.

“It would have been available for a very expensive item, a proper portfolio,” he told the jury.

Asked whether he said anything about the £1,000 being for sex, he replied: “I never discussed sex at all with her. I don’t remember ever saying the word to her.”