The principal of a Bradford primary education academy who was facing allegations of assault on a man in his 70s has been cleared of all charges.

Rashidah Butt, 51, had been accused of wounding with intent, two charges of assault causing actual bodily harm and two of assault by beating.

The charges alleged assaults over three consecutive days in September last year. The complainant was 79-year-old Brian Moore.

Mrs Butt, of Fagley Croft, Fagley, Bradford, pleaded not guilty to all the charges in December.

Her trial was due to begin at Bradford Crown Court yesterday, but prosecutor Martin Robertshaw told Judge Jonathan Rose that he was offering no evidence, due to inconsistencies in the account of the complainant.

Judge Rose recorded not guilty verdicts on all the charges and told Mrs Butt she was free to leave the court.

The trial had been expected to last three days. Mrs Butt had been on bail.

Mrs Butt had been head teacher at Feversham Primary School from 2004, taking on the role of principal when the school became an Academy in November 2012.

She was suspended from her post on September 12 last year, pending investigations into allegations of professional misconduct, which a spokesman for the Academies Enterprise Trust, the sponsor of Feversham Primary Academy, said were neither pupil-related nor related to the court proceedings.

Yesterday, the spokesman confirmed: “Mrs Butt was originally suspended by AET, her employer, in early September last year, a week before the alleged incident. The suspension was based on her professional conduct and was not in relation to the court proceedings.”

The spokesman added: “The course of this internal investigation was deferred until the outcome of the court proceedings and will now be resumed. During this period Mrs Butt will remain on suspension from her position of head teacher at the school.”