A man who had been extradited from Spain to face a series of sex charges against five boys has been cleared on any wrongdoing following a trial.

Craig Shaw was brought back from his home in Benidorm to face allegations of raping two young boys and sexually abusing another.

And after the 38-year-old arrived from the Costa Blanca he was charged with molesting two other lads.

But following a three week trial at Swindon Crown Court a jury of six men and six women found him not guilty of 30 of the 31 charges he faced.

And after hearing they could not reach a verdict on the final count prosecutors said they would not seek a retrial, and offered no evidence.

The jury had been deliberating for more than 12 hours, and told they could return majority verdicts upon which only ten agreed, before returning their decisions.

Shaw had been said to have started abusing the first child in autumn of 2007, when the boy was aged 12 years old.

It is said the alleged offending continued to March 2009, when he was 14, and included a number if incidents of rape.

Shaw was also accused of raping the lad's older brother on three occasions in the year up to October 2009.

The third set of allegations relate to him twice having sexual activity with a 15-year-old boy in the second half of 2008.

The 20 counts relating to the three complainants, who are all now adults, were said to have taken place in Swindon and Blackpool.

In the second raft of charges he had been accused of abusing one lad between the ages of 11 and 14 and another who was 15 years old between 2007 and 2012.

Shaw denied six counts of rape, 17 of sexual activity with a child, two sexual assault, and six of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

He served six months behind bars on remand following his extradition, but was released on bail before Christmas after time limits ran out.

A judge ruled that prosecutors had not acted correctly in preparing the case meaning his detention could not be justified to go on after six months.

Charges alleging he failed to comply with the conditions of the notification requirements and breached a sexual offences prevention order were dropped before trial.

It had been said the first breach, relating to sex offender registration, related to him not living at an address on Abbey Walk South, Halifax, between 2010 and 2014.

The breach of the order, imposed by magistrates in Swindon in March 2009, alleged he contacted one of the boys before he was 16, which he was prohibited from doing.

Shaw, who gave his address as Calle Londres, Benidorm, pleaded not guilty to all of the counts.