A former circus worker has been cleared of a series of sex attacks on a young girl.

Barry Watson, 57, was alleged to have raped and indecently assaulted the girl when he lived in the Chichester area in the Sixties.

Mr Watson, who now lives in Bradford, denied all the allegations.

Chichester Crown Court heard that the girl became pregnant by him when they had sex after a party, when she had just turned 16.

Mr Watson claimed he was so drunk he could only remember waking up in the same bed as the girl the next day. He could not remember if they had sex or not.

The jury was told that recent DNA tests on her daughter showed that he was almost certainly the father.

Mr Watson said he accepted that he was the father but insisted that the woman, now in her 40s, had made up "a pack of lies" about the other alleged attacks.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told police she had been repeatedly raped, indecently assaulted and made to commit sex acts by Mr Watson from the age of just nine.

She claimed Mr Watson had even sold her to two of his friends for sex. They were said to have given her two shillings, the equivalent of just 10p today, but these allegations were dismissed.

The court heard that he had worked on the dodgems at a circus in the Chichester area in the Sixties. He was forced to give up the job after falling off one of the bumper cars and breaking his leg.

Mr Watson had also worked on the construction of Chichester Harbour and as a coffee bar assistant in the city.

The jury took more than nine hours over two days to clear him of two counts of rape and one of indecent assault after a seven-day trial.

Judge Anthony Thorpe had previously ordered that three further charges of rape and two of indecency with a child - which centred on the selling for sex claims - be dismissed through lack of evidence and not guilty verdicts were entered.

He discharged the jury after it failed to reach verdicts on one other rape charge, an allegation of indecent assault and two counts of indecency with a child.

A decision on whether Mr Watson will have to face a second trial on the undecided charges will be taken by Monday.

Judge Thorpe told the jury: "You have worked very hard on this case. It cannot have been very easy for you."

Mr Watson said as he left court: "I have been advised not to say anything at the moment until a decision on the other charges still hanging over me has been made."