FORMER newspaper tycoon Eddy Shah launched an attack on “cheap policing and cheap prosecution” after he was cleared of raping a teenager in the 1990s.

The 69-year-old, of Chippen-ham, denied raping the girl on several occasions during the early 1990s when she was between 12 and 15.

Yesterday, after 17 hours and 46 minutes of deliberations, a jury at the Old Bailey cleared him of six counts of raping a girl under 16.

Speaking outside the Old Bailey at the end of the two-month trial he called for a review of how rape cases are dealt with by police.

He said: “Anybody walking down the street can point at a celebrity and say, ‘he raped me’.

“I was brought to trial with no real evidence at all – all they had was the word of a girl and nothing was actually backed up.

“Having been through what I have just been through, I think they should look at what happens.

“They look at it subjectively, not objectively – they just take it to trial and I think that is very wrong, there should be some evidence.”

Referring to his relationship with an escort, which he admitted in court, he said: “Hundreds of thousands of men do that and that was 20 years ago.

“I have tried to make it up to my wife and children but it has caused some problems – two of my children have forgiven me but I know they will still hold it against me for a long while.”

Wearing dark trousers and a blue shirt with the collar open, the former owner of the Wiltshire Golf and Country Club, near Royal Wootton Bassett, said ‘thank you’ to the jury and appeared to fight back tears as the verdicts were read out. His wife, Jennifer White Shah, wept as the verdict was given.

Former escort Susan Davies, 53, of Swanley, Kent, was cleared of forcing the complainant, now in her early 30s, to have threesomes with her and Shah.

Mr Shah said he met the girl twice in hotels while she was accompanied by Davies, but never had sex with her.

Davies was found not guilty of aiding and abetting rape, indecent assault and cruelty to a person under 16.

A third defendant, businessman Anthony Pallant, 53, of West Malling, Kent, was also cleared of raping the girl during the same period with the assistance of Davies. He was found not guilty of rape and indecent assault.

During the trial, Ms Davies described how she had a relationship with Mr Shah for several years but claimed it never felt like she was working as a prostitute.

The court heard Mr Shah would pay her around £100 to £200 for sex and brought her gifts such as a Pierre Cardin watch.

She referred to him as a gentleman and said she had taken the girl twice to meet him because she thought he could have a positive influence on her life.

“With hindsight it was a stupid decision,” she told the court.

His former model and actress wife said that when her husband was arrested she initially thought it was a joke by their policeman son.

She said of the verdict: "I'm so pleased because it is a case that shouldn't have been brought in the first instance.

"It has been 11 weeks and a half long and this sort of thing destroys families, people and children - not just us but the other defendants as well. So what a great verdict and what a good verdict."