UK men cleared of child sex abuse

Duncan Grant was falsely accused of child sex offences

Two Britons jailed in India for sexually abusing boys at a children's shelter have been cleared on appeal.

Charity worker Duncan Grant and Allan Waters, a retired naval officer, were acquitted by judges at the High Court in Mumbai, due to lack of evidence.

In 2006 a lower court jailed the pair for six years and fined them £20,000.

The campaigning group, Fair Trials Abroad, has welcomed the verdict. A spokeswoman said: "These men have been rightfully acquitted."

It was not immediately clear if the government prosecutors would appeal against the verdict.

William D'souza, an Indian citizen who managed the shelter and was convicted of aiding and abetting the men, was also cleared by the judges.

Charity worker

The police investigation began after a 15-year-old boy complained about repeated sexual and physical abuse by the men. Four other boys made similar complaints.

It has been long five years and they are hoping that they can return to the UK soon Sabine Zanker, Fair Trials Abroad

A 2001 police report charged the men with sodomy, and sexually abusing boys at the Anchorage shelter which Mr Grant, a charity worker from Hampstead in north London, had set up in 1995.

Former naval officer Allan Waters, 60, of Porchester, Hampshire, who police claimed was a regular visitor to the home, was arrested at New York's JFK airport in 2003 on an Interpol warrant and extradited to India.

The home's manager, Mr D'souza, was sentenced to three years in jail in 2006 and fined £64 after the court heard allegations that he beat boys in the shelter to prevent them from complaining to other social workers or the police.

'Flawed' trial

But Fair Trials Abroad, which has been working to secure the men's release for the past two years, said the original trial was flawed.

Fair Trials spokeswomen Sabine Zanker said: "There was a lot of corruption in this case, and no real evidence against Mr Grant and Mr Waters.

"We believe the accusations against the men were motivated by revenge, and that witnesses were paid.

"We also had testimony from UK gap year students who stayed at the home who said it was one big room, and nothing could have happened."

Those campaigning for the men's release believe that a known paedophile in Mumbai paid boys to make allegations of abuse against Mr Grant after he demanded the man stop coming to the shelter.

Good work

Ms Zanker said Mr Grant had done an enormous amount of good work for the street children of Bombay, helping them into education and employment, much of which had been undone by the conviction.

Of the men, she said: "It has been long five years and they are hoping that they can return to the UK soon."

A UK Foreign Office spokesman said that "consular assistance" had been extended to Mr Grant and Mr Waters - but details would not be released for reasons of confidentiality.

The two men were not in court to hear their acquittal. Their lawyer, Tariq Sayed, said: "My clients were falsely implicated in the case."

Mr Sayed added that Mr Grant and Mr Waters should be released from prison after the required paperwork is completed.