A MAN has been cleared of having sex with a girl half his age.

Jason Holgate, 28, was acquitted after the prosecution offered no evidence against him on the morning of his trial at Swindon Crown Court.

But, rather than walk free from court, Holgate will remain behind bars because he was returned to jail for breaching his release licence.

Holgate received a five-year sentence in Novem-ber 2001 for a robbery committed with an imitation handgun.

He was on early release when the 14-year-old girl went to the police.

However, despite being acquitted of any wrongdoing he has been returned to prison to serve some of the unserved portion of the earlier jail term.

The schoolgirl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, originally claimed she had been raped by Holgate in July last year, though he was not charged with that offence.

He was accused of having unlawful sexual intercourse with the girl as she was under the age of consent at the time.

Holgate said he believed that she was 16 the age of consent.

On the morning of the trial a barrister for the Crown Prosecution Service said he felt there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the case against Holgate.

Philip Warren, prosecuting, said the girl's video evidence could not be played to a jury because it was inextricably linked to the allegation of rape and she was not going to be called.

Mr Warren said that it had been proposed to play the video without the sound.

He said this would allow the jury to see what the girl looked like.

Although she is tall he said she was not fully developed.

He said he couldn't say the defendant should have known she was under 16 by her appearance.

He said Holgate was entitled to the defence that he believed she was of the age of consent.

Holgate, of Croft Road, Old Town, was formally found not guilty of sexual activity with a child by Judge Tom Longbotham.

The ruling is the equivalent of a jury finding him not guilty.

Holgate was 24 when he used a cigarette lighter shaped like a gun to hold up Threshers on Queens Drive. The robbery took place the day before Christmas Eve in 2000.

He received a five-year jail term term when he appeared before Crown Court the following November.

Jamie Hill