A BIRMINGHAM PE teacher cleared of raping a girl following a party has spoken of how the allegations have destroyed his life.

Matthew Fludgate, who taught at St Edmund Campion School, in Erdington, was found not guilty of charges of rape, sexual assault and another serious sexual offence by a jury at the city’s Crown Court yesterday. The 34-year-old from Stourport-on-Severn put his head in his hands and wept after the jury returned its verdicts.

And afterwards he said: “The allegations were made just over a year ago and it has been absolutely horrendous.

“I have contemplated taking my own life on at least three occasions. The only thing that kept me alive was the fact that I knew I was innocent.

“It is the failings of the justice system that need to be corrected. On the word of one young woman another person’s life can be destroyed.”