A JUDGE has blasted the handling of child sex cases by police and said crucial lessons from the Cleveland child abuse scandal 20 years ago had not been learnt.

Yesterday, Judge Michael Taylor said the police and the legal system were "utterly failing" children.

He spoke out at the end of a four-day trial at Teesside Crown Court, in which he directed a jury to clear a teenager of raping a 14-year-old girl in a Hartlepool park.

Last night, there were calls for an investigation into the outcome of the case.

In a furious outburst, Judge Taylor:

* Criticised Cleveland Police for video interviewing the alleged victim for one hour and 15 minutes with "meandering, repetitive and objectionable questions";

* Labelled a 70-page transcript of the interview as "totally unnecessary and unjustifiable";

* Said police should not have asked the girl intimate sexual questions;

* Claimed the defendant's legal advisors were "totally wrong-headed";

* Condemned the advisors for not telling the Crown Prosecution Service about witnesses who cast doubt on the case.

The judge, who had taken the unusual step of summoning someone from the Crown Prosecution to hear his criticism - a request that was turned down - said the case should be a lesson in "what should not be done".

Judge Taylor said police had ignored rules put in place after the Cleveland Child Abuse scandal in the 1980s. Then, 121 children were taken into care after a paediatrician claimed they had suffered sexual abuse. Ninety-six cases were eventually dismissed.

Judge Taylor, who worked on the subsequent public inquiry, said: "It's 20 years since the Cleveland inquiry took place and most people in this building know I was involved in that for nine months.

"Post-Cleveland, steps were taken to set out procedures in which children were interviewed properly by trained officers in a responsible way to put appropriate elements before the court.

"What happened in this case can only be described as a total failure to abide by the well-known memoranda for practice.

"The video in this case will be chosen as a training aid, as what should not be done, because every rule was broken, bar one."

The judge also criticised the 18-year-old defendant's legal team, saying they were "totally wrong-headed" to advise him to continually reply "no comment" in his police interview.

He also condemned them for failing to notify the Crown that they had witnesses who said the alleged victim had been drunk, and that she had offered to perform oral sex on three boys before she kissed the defendant in a park in King Oswy Drive, Hartlepool. That disclosure could have convinced the Crown not to proceed with the case. He said his remarks had the agreement of fellow judges.

He also said residents in the area should be ashamed of the CPS after his request for a senior representative to be in court was turned down.

He said: "I think it is a deplorable state of affairs when a judge asks a senior member of the Crown Prosecution Service to turn up when he has some remarks to make in court, and I am told that a decision has been taken at a high level that nobody will attend.

"There are grave issues in this case which, regrettably, are all too common in cases like this, and where attention should be brought to it by all sides.

"It is a great pity that the CPS did not have the courage to come here and face it." Teesside MP Vera Baird, a qualified barrister and Minister for the Department for Constitutional Affairs, which oversees the courts system, said: "The judge is making some very strong criticisms, of which the police certainly should be ashamed. There ought to be a full inquiry.

"Cross-examining a complainant about their previous sexual history because they erroneously believe this will be put to her in the witness box is very common, unfortunately.

"This outcome of this case is horrifying, but not surprising and it is time the police and other agencies got their act together."

A Cleveland Police spokesman said: "We will be studying very carefully the comments made by the judge in this case and, if necessary and appropriate, we will review our procedures." A spokeswoman for Cleveland CPS said: "We have noted what has been said in court and will be making our own inquiries.

"Further comment is inappropriate at this stage."