A MANAGER of a North-East home for child offenders was cleared yesterday of indecently assaulting three women staff.

Christopher Winstanley Smith, 41, who works at Aycliffe Children's Centre, County Durham, fought back tears as he thanked the jury when they returned their not guilty verdicts at Teesside Crown Court.

Mr Winstanley Smith, a married father-of-two, admitted during his eight-day trial that he had affairs with the three women.

He claimed one of them seduced him in the living room with low lights and soft music after they had been drinking gin and tonics in the staff bar.

Another "foul-mouthed" worker, who he described as a gossip, grabbed him on the sofa before they had full sex.

A third rolled naked with him on the bathroom floor while her family were at work and school, the court heard.

But up to five years later they complained to police that he had indecently assaulted them.

Mr Winstanley Smith claimed that it was a conspiracy against him, possibly to win compensation, and the jury accepted his version of events.

He said that he had a loving relationship for a year with one of the women, which ended when he spent a drunken night with her best friend.

Two of the women spoke of drinking sessions until 2am in the staff bar at the centre. One of them claimed that she had also been indecently assaulted by teenage inmates.

Mr Winstanley Smith admitted he was not proud of betraying his wife Linda over two years, but consistently maintained his innocence of all charges against him.

Mr Winstanley Smith told the court: "None of my behaviour towards any of these women could be construed as indecent assault. Everything in it was with full consent.

"Each of these women was a very active partner."

Mr Winstanley Smith, of Vane Road, Newton Aycliffe, was found not guilty of four charges of indecently assaulting the three women between June 1994 and June 1995 and left the court without speaking to reporters.