A NORTH-EAST man accused of running one of the world’s largest music-sharing websites has been acquitted of conspiracy to defraud.

Alan Ellis, 26, was accused of making hundreds of thousands of pounds from the OiNK website, which he ran from his bedroom.

However, a jury at Teesside Crown Court unanimously cleared the software engineer of the single charge.

Mr Ellis, of Grange Road, Middlesbrough, smiled as the jury foreman returned the “not guilty” verdict.

Earlier, he had told the court he set up OiNK in his bedroom to brush up on his computing skills while a student at Teesside University.

When police raided his terraced home in October 2007, they found nearly $300,000 in his accounts.

The site had 200,000 members, who had shared 21 million files.

Mr Ellis, a software engineer who earned £35,000 a year, said the donations were to pay for renting servers. Any surplus was intended to eventually buy a server, he said.

He agreed he had about ten bank accounts and about £20,000 in savings.

Giving evidence, he explained why he set up the website.

“It was to further my skills.

To better my skills for employability,”

he said.

Mr Ellis said the website was developed from a free template, which had a torrent file-sharing facility included in it.

It allowed members to find other people on the web who were prepared to share files – allowing users to obtain music for free.

OiNK did not host any music itself, but indexed the files users had available on their computers for others to download.

Mr Ellis said there was no intention to defraud copyright holders. He had a fulltime job as a software engineer and said administering the site was just a hobby.

Following the verdict, the Crown Prosecution Service defended its decision to prosecute.

“We believe that there was sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and that evidence was put before the jury,” a spokesman said.

Chief Superintendent Mark Braithwaite, head of crime operations for Cleveland Police, said: “The jury has been presented with all the evidence and we abide by their decision.”

A spokesman for the BPI, which represents the music industry, said: “This is a hugely disappointing verdict which is out of line with decisions made in similar cases around the world.

“The case shows that artists and music companies need better protection.”

Mr Ellis declined to comment as he left the court.