A BUSINESSMAN has told how his dignity was left in tatters after he was falsely accused of sex crimes allegedly committed when he was a young boy.

Shabir Haider, 48, of Branby Avenue, East Morton, was acquitted by a Bradford Crown Court jury last week of a total of eight charges of indecent assault against a young girl, dating between 1976 and 1981, following a week-long trial.

He had denied all the accusations against him.

Dad-of-five Mr Haider said: "When the jury cleared me I bowed and said 'God Save the Queen'.

"I am an innocent man who has been dragged though the mire by claims proven to be false.

"The whole case was a house of cards glued together by incompetence.

"The statements presented against me were carefully constructed fiction which thankfully fell apart in court."

The court had been told by prosecutor Nick Askins that Mr Haider had been arrested last year after police were alerted by the complainant in 2012.

He denied all the allegations against him when he was interviewed by detectives, the jury was told.

Giving evidence, Mr Haider spoke of his "complete shock and horror" when he learned he was being accused of sexually abusing a young girl more than 30 years ago when he was himself a child.

Mr Haider said he left school at 15 and went on to work in Holland as a waiter for 18 months.

In 1992, he went to Pakistan for about five years where he supervised the management of land and the building of a villa and a farm to expand his family's property portfolio.

Since then he said there has been a fall-out with members of his family because he had not received his share of a £6.2 million property portfolio he worked hard to expand while in Pakistan.

But Mr Haider, who runs a solar panel firm, said he felt no ill will towards his accuser.

"As far as the claims against me, there were hundreds of witnesses from schooldays who could have proved I was innocent," he said.

"I am not a bitter man and only feel sadness for my accuser.

"However, my business has suffered, I felt so ashamed sometimes I couldn't face people.

"My dignity was stripped from me, thrown into a shredder and then tossed to the wind.

"Thankfully the love and support of family and friends has seen me through this ordeal."

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