A DELEGATE at a plumbers' convention was cleared yesterday of squeezing a barmaid's bottom and trying to get her into a toilet for sex.

The married woman said that Norman West, 50, targeted her at the function at Middlesbrough FC's Riverside Stadium in November last year and tried to talk her out of going home to her husband.

She claimed he blocked her way outside a disabled toilet and asked her if she wanted to go inside, before grabbing her bottom and making an obscene comment.

She reported Mr West to her bosses who contacted his firm the next day, and the police were called in Teesside Crown Court heard.

Mr West said they had met at a previous function and she was flirtatious, hugging him and rubbing his back.

Mr West, of Elgin Gardens, Walker Dene, Newcastle, was found not guilty of indecent assault on November 27.