A JURY has cleared a convicted paedophile of fresh child abuse allegations.

County Durham van driver John Pennock - serving 17 years for offences against a girl from the 2000s - was acquitted of charges relating to a boy.

Today's (Friday) verdicts at Teesside Crown Court came after the jury had deliberated for almost six-and-a-half hours over the course of two days.

Pennock, 45, denied trying to rape the boy and engaging in sex acts with him - and he still protests his innocence about his 2011 conviction.

His barrister, Jeremy Hill-Baker, QC, suggested during the trial that the boy came forward only after hearing the first accuser got compensation.

Pennock, who has links to County Durham, Teesside and Wearside, told the jury of six men and six women that he had never touched the boy, was not attracted to children and did not know why the claims were made.

He was found not guilty of four charges of attempted rape, two of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and sexual activity with a child.

During the five-day trial, the complainant was accused of seeking money after hearing Pennock's first victim had been awarded £22,000 compensation.

Replying to the suggestion from Mr Hill-Baker that he made it all up, the complainant said: "I don't think so - not in a million years. I wouldn't."

The jury heard that Pennock was fostered as a baby and has lived in Sunderland, East Rainton and Shotton Colliery, County Durham, and in Middlesbrough.

He worked as a steel erector for a company in Spennymoor, County Durham, on building sites across the region, and in a kebab factory in Washington.