FORMER soldier Mike Buss has been cleared of cheating Help For Heroes out of thousands of pounds.

A self-styled 'Running Man' who completed numerous charity challenges, Mr Buss was found not guilty today of theft and fraud following a week-long trial.

And speaking after he was cleared at Swindon Crown Court the emotional 41-year-old blasted the police for bringing the case against him.

He said: "It really should never have been brought. It was led by a police constable that did not have any experience in fraud."

And he said the case had tainted all the good work he had done over the years for Help for Heroes and other charities.

"It has all been for nothing, all the hard work that I have put in. I have paid for all the events from my own money that I have earned so that every penny could go to veterans, and for that I got put on trial," he said.

Mr Buss, who served for five years in the Royal Green Jackets, carried out a series of endurance events to raise money for forces charities.

He ran 100 marathons in 100 days, set the world record for running on a treadmill in seven days, and held a comedy night and sleep outs.

The former Army PT instructor also ran long distances with heavy back packs on his back as he tried to make a carrier as an athlete.

It had been alleged that instead of passing on the cash which supporters had put into collecting tins he kept it for himself.

Prosecutors said between October 2009 and September 2011 in the region of £40,000 had gone into two bank accounts he held which could not be accounted for as income.

They said that just under £18,000 could actually be traced as going to charity leaving a shortfall of £21,809.54p which it was said he kept for himself.

The jury also heard records from Revenue and Customs for those two years showed his only income after he left a job at a college to be a small army pension.

Mr Buss, who said after his arrest he tried to slit his wrists and took an overdose, told the jury, 'There was never anything dishonest about what I did'.

He insisted that nothing handed over for veterans went into his bank account but went directly to the charities.

Any money he received was either sponsorship, as he tried to become an ultra athlete, or payment for personal training and nutritional advice.

He said people also paid him to have their picture taken running on a treadmill alongside him during endurance events at shopping centres.

The charge of fraud was dropped on the instruction of the judge and the jury found Mr Buss, of Barra Close, Highworth, not guilty of theft.