A Bradford-born rugby league international has spoken of his delight after child sex offences against him were dropped.

It was the second time Adam Walker from Shipley had faced charges relating to the allegations involving a 14-year-old girl which led to his initial arrest in 2015.

The first set of proceedings against him, accusing him attempting to engage in sexual activity, were dismissed last year after his defence argued the original charges were wrong in law when the prosecution applied to amend them, but it was said the case could be reinstated with new charges.

That did happen and, instead, he then faced one charge of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and two charges of allegedly meeting a child following sexual grooming.

But today at Leeds Crown Court, Judge James Spencer QC heard no evidence was being offered against the 25-year-old on all charges.

Walker now plays for St Helens but at the time he was first arrested he was at Hull Kingston Rovers.

After the hearing he said: “I am delighted by the decision that the Crown Prosecution Service has taken to offer no evidence against me and to accept, as I have always maintained, that I was entirely innocent of any wrongdoing.

"I have had to endure adverse publicity and have been placed under considerable and unjustified stress."

He thanked his solicitor Ian Clarke of Murrays, Bradford and Richard Wright QC “for all their efforts on my behalf.”

“I have been supported throughout these proceedings by my clubs, my friends, my colleagues and my family and I would particularly like to thank the Rugby League, St Helens Rugby Club, Hull Kingston Rovers Rugby Club and more importantly the fans of both those clubs.”

Adrienne Gower, Head of the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit at CPS Yorkshire and Humberside said: “We have a duty to continuously review all our cases. New Material was recently brought to our attention and has now been assessed. We concluded in the light of this new material that there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction and so the case was dropped.”

A police spokesman said: "West Yorkshire Police carried out a thorough investigation and a file was passed to the CPS who made all subsequent decisions around the criminal justice process."