A JUDGE criticised the delay in bringing a case to court as a single mother was cleared of sexual offences against a schoolboy.

It has taken almost two years for Samantha Williamson to face trial since the teenager claimed she made advances towards him and tried to grope him.

Yesterday, Ms Williamson, 43, was acquitted of all four charges at Teesside Crown Court, and Judge Stephen Ashurst said he hoped lessons would be learned from the apparent mistakes which caused the hold-up.

Prosecutor Christine Egerton explained the timetable of the Cleveland Police investigation since the complaint was first made in October 2015.

Miss Egerton told Judge Ashurst that the delays were "probably" caused by police responses to requests for information from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)

The lawyer said a full file of details was given to the CPS on November 9, 2015, and they had provided an action plan by December 17, saying what further work was needed before charges could be authorised.

A reply was provided by police by January 20 last year, but Miss Egerton said it "was not a full response and did not answer all the questions", so another action plan was immediately sent back.

Adequate information was finally provided so charge could be authorised on November 2, and Ms Williamson first appeared before magistrates in Hartlepool on January 9 this year.

A Cleveland Police spokesperson said: “We accept there were delays with this case. Many of these delays were beyond officers’ control, such as waiting to receive reports from third party agencies.

“All early decision materials were provided within three weeks of the incident occurring. Further requests for additional materials prolonged a charging decision.

“A charging decision was received by police in October 2016 and a summons was then issued. The defendant made a first court appearance in November 2016."

Judge Ashurst said after the case: "It would have been better for all concerned if these matters had been concluded before August 2017.

"I very much hope, despite the volume of work and resource issues the are, that this sort of issue doesn't repeat itself."

Ms Williamson, of Catcote Road, Hartlepool, denied two charges of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, attempted sexual activity with a child and sexual activity with a child.

A jury of six men and six women took less than an hour to find the mother-of-four not guilty at the end of a trial that lasted two days.

She denied making any advances towards the youngster, but they had argued about him having a block of cannabis, and denied that she was drunk having been drinking wine all night.