A MAN has been cleared of raping a teenage girl in Bradford more than 20 years ago.

Anthony Mottram, 49, was charged in May last year in connection with the attack in the Fairweather Green area of the city.

But a jury at Leeds Crown Court yesterday found him not guilty of rape, four counts of indecent assault and possession of an offensive weapon.

In a statement issued through his defence barristers Richard Canning and Jessica Randell, Mr Mottram, of Weeland Road, Sharlston Common, Wakefield, said he was grateful for the jury’s verdict and said the last 14 months had been “unbearable”.

He said he wanted to get on with his life and put this episode behind him.

During the trial, Leeds Crown Court heard his accuser, who cannot be named, was on her way to a friend’s house on the morning of June 10, 1997, when she saw a man walking towards her.

She said he threatened her with a Stanley knife before saying: “Show us your knickers”.

In the assault that followed, the girl said she was forced to perform sexual acts on her attacker, who also forced her to have penetrative sex with him.

During the assault, which the girl said lasted approximately 20 minutes, she said the man ordered her to “just do as she was told”.

She said he made her “promise not to tell anyone” before she was able to flee the scene and get to her friend’s house, after which the police were called.

In 1998, the girl identified a man as her attacker via an ID parade, but after going to court the case did not proceed.

Leeds Crown Court heard advanced DNA analysis from 2016 found samples of DNA that matched Mottram’s on a t-shirt worn by the girl, and on a rock at the scene. Evidence given to the jury by scientist Sally Hill stated that the nature of the DNA match on the t-shirt stain put the chances of it not being from Mottram as “one in a billion.”

Mr Mottram, said in evidence that he was “absolutely not” the man who had raped the girl. He said: “There is absolutely nothing that would make me want to attack anybody.”

He added that he “couldn’t explain” how or why his DNA was found on the t-shirt, but did tell the jury that he used to have sex with his then fiancee, Paula Watson, in a similar area at around that time - something which she denied.