GAZETTE & HERALD: Lee Kirkwood, 18, of Hill Rise, Chippenham, has been cleared of raping and indecently assaulting 18-year-old teenage Claire Morgan, who has since died.

Swindon Crown Court was told on Friday the Crown Prosecution Service decided they could not rely on statements made by Miss Morgan before she died.

Kirkwood, who denied the charges, was only 16 when he was accused of carrying out two sex attacks on Miss Morgan when she was 18 in the late summer of 2002.

Miss Morgan suffered from cerebral ataxia which affected her balance and caused her fits and seizures.

Her death, alone at her flat in Allington Way in January 2003, remains a mystery as an inquest recorded a death by natural causes after a pathologist could find no medical reason for it.

Miss Morgan spent much of her time trying to help other children in care, working alongside the county council and as a member of the North Wiltshire Young People's Theatre Group.

Kirkwood, now 18, is said to have met Miss Morgan, who was two years his senior, in July 2002 when she said she invited him to a party.

The following month, on August 27, Kirkwood, of Hill Rise, again came to see her at her home.

Miss Morgan claimed Kirkwood picked her up and threw her on the bed in the bedroom and told her they were going to have sex, before raping her.

Despite believing she had been raped Miss Morgan did not contact the police and washed the duvet which was on the bed, destroying any potential forensic evidence.

Kirkwood was arrested and denied knowing his victim or having met her, but he later changed his stance.

He claimed that he went to the flat in August but denied anything untoward took place and he said the second incident was entirely consensual.

Miss Morgan made a video statement to the police which a judge had ruled was admissible as evidence after she died in January 2003.

However as Miss Morgan's medical notes and counselling records were closely examined it was discovered that her credibility could have been compromised by what she had been through and so it would be unfair to proceed against Kirkwood. Andrew MacFarlane, prosecuting said as a result the Crown offered no evidence and formal not guilty verdicts were recorded.