CHARGES have been dropped against a former teacher who had been accused of a sexual offence involving a 16-year-old girl.

Ryan Leverton, 32, who used to teach at Bishop Fox’s School, Taunton, had been accused of abusing a position of trust with a girl who was then aged 16.

He denied three counts of sexual touching at a hearing at Taunton Crown Court in August and the case had been due to go to trial in March next year.

However, at a hearing at the same court this month charges were formally dropped.

The Crown Prosecution Service declined to give details of its reason for dropping the charges, but CPS Senior Crown Prosecutor Eoin MacCarthy said: “The CPS keeps all its cases under continual review, and as part of this further evidence recently came to light which meant there was no longer sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.”

Mr Leverton had left Bishop Fox’s School before he first appeared in court in June and he now lives in Exeter.