An Esher man has been found not guilty of raping a girl in the early 1980s.

John Davies, who lives in Mill Road, was accused of raping the girl between 1980 and 1981 when she was six or seven, at his former house in Cowleaze Road, Kingston.

Mr Davies, a specialist in human migration and a visiting research fellow at the University of Sussex, was also found not guilty of four counts of indecent assault against the same girl and two counts of indecent assault against the girl’s older sister, who was seven or eight at the time.

The jury at Kingston Crown Court was sent out to deliberate on Wednesday afternoon and the not guilty verdict was announced at 11.30am today.