B&B Indecent Assault Trial
Pensioner cleared of sex attack on child
A PENSIONER accused of a sex attack on a young girl when he ran a seaside bed and breakfast has been cleared by a jury.
Retired naval enginer Christopher Dance was yesterday found not guilty of indcecent assault after a three-day crown court trial.
Mr Dance was accused of indecently assaulting a four-year-old girl when he owned the hotel, in Saltburn, east Cleveland, with his wife in the Nineties.
It was alleged he asked the youngster to undress, laid her on a bed and carried out the attack after they had played on a computer.
Mr Dance, now 65, told the jury during his trial at Teesside Crown Court that he was astounded when the allegation was made.
He was questioned late last year after the girl told her mother what she believed happened when they lived at the establishment.
The family were among hundreds of people who stayed at the B&B - many of them with troubled lives.
Mr Dance told the court that one resident was a suspected sex offender and suggested he may have carried out the attack on the young girl.
He said the man was evicted when he and his wife, Jenny, learned of the allegations, which had been made against him in the mid-Nineties.
Mr Dance, of Skerries Close, Redcar, east Cleveland, was supported throughout his trial by his wife and two daughters.
12:48pm Saturday 24th November 2007
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