This is Leicestershire --A man wept with relief after a jury acquitted him of twice raping a 12-year-old schoolgirl.
Lee Brian Smith, 27, who denied the offences, received emotional congratulations from supporters in the court's public gallery.
The prosecution had alleged Mr Smith had befriended the girl in 2010, when he was 24.
The girl told the jury she would sneak out of her house to meet him at night and alleged that he invited her to his home.
The girl, now 15, told the court she went into his bedroom, where she was allegedly twice raped, on July 25.
Leicester Crown Court heard she allegedly took a photo of Mr Smith while he slept in bed after sex took place.
However, Mr Smith, of Grove Road, Blaby, told the jury the first he knew of his accuser's existence was when he was arrested.
Giving evidence in his defence, he said: "I've never spoken to her in my life."
However, he did accept phone records showed there were 380 text messages from his phone to hers and she had sent 435 to his phone over several weeks before the alleged offences.
Mr Smith said he had been text messaging an anonymous person during that time, involving general chit-chat, but had no idea the person was a 12-year-old girl.
He said: "If I was aware it was a child at any point I would have stopped text messaging.
"She never met me once. It's all made up."
He said there was no sneaking out of her home to meet him.
"It never happened," he said. Mr Smith said he did not know how the girl was able to describe his bedroom, including correctly saying he had Leicester City FC posters on his wall.
He claimed a photograph she purported to have taken on her mobile phone of him asleep – later found by police on her computer – was taken by his ex-girlfriend.
The alleged victim must have taken it from his phone after it was lost, he said.
Mr Smith said at the time of the allegations he was in a three-year-relationship with his former partner and had never cheated on her.
The court heard the alleged victim had also made an unrelated allegation of rape against a 15-year-old boy.
Mr Smith's defence counsel, Alwyn Jones, suggested the girl had taken the details of that assault and "copied" them, to falsely accuse Mr Smith.
The girl disagreed, saying: "No, do you think I'm sick?"
During her evidence in court she admitted she had "a crush" on Mr Smith.
She also claimed that he had told her he loved her on the night of the alleged rapes. Reported by This is 21 hours ago.