A PENSIONER accused of involvement in the sickening rape of a young boy has been cleared by a jury.
Arthur Blackman, 72, was charged with taking part in an attack more than 50 years ago – which involved the victim's own father, who is now dead.
But Blackman, of Forsythe Crescent, Upper Norwood, maintained that the victim, who is now 59, had confused him with somebody else called Arthur.
On Tuesday, he was cleared of buggery of a boy between the age of five and eight following a trial at Lewes Crown Court.
The jury could not reach a verdict on a separate charge of gross indecency against a boy under the age of 14.
During Blackman's trial, the court was told that a man forced his son to perform oral sex on him while another man raped the boy. It was claimed that Blackman was friends with the father at the time of the alleged offences, between January 1, 1961 and January 1, 1964.
Tanya Ossack, defending, said Blackman was not the man who carried out the rape in Crawley, West Sussex, telling the court: "Can I make it clear on behalf of Arthur Blackman that I don't accept that he was there; that he didn't do anything of a sexual nature (to you). I am not suggesting that this (the abuse) did not happen. I am saying that it was not him."
Blackman had denied both charges.
