A POLICE officer was cleared yesterday of picking up prostitutes and indecently assaulting them in the back of his van.

Darren Dolan, a 33-year-old Cleveland Police officer, who had previously worked at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle protecting the Royal Family, was found not guilty of four counts of indecent assault following a week-long trial at Hull Crown Court.

The prosecution alleged the married father-of-two had picked up four prostitutes and assaulted them in the back of his van during an evening patrol in Middlesbrough, on January 21, last year.

The court heard he recorded four stop-and- searches that night, but each one was noted down as searching their outer garments only.

Dolan, who denied the charges, said he had not assaulted anyone that night and would never get into the back of a van with anyone as a matter of personal safety.

As the jury foreman read out the verdicts, some people in the public gallery began to cry.

Speaking after the verdict, a Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: "The circumstances which led to the court case will now be reviewed by the head of the professional standards unit of Cleveland Police. A decision will be made as to whether the officer is to face internal misconduct proceedings."

The Middlesbrough-based officer was an infantryman in the Coldstream Guards and Royal Marines, who served in Northern Ireland and on Royal protection duties.

During the case the court heard how he had ambitions to become a member of the Special Boat Service before he joined the Cleveland Police force in 1997.

At the time of his suspension from duty, he held the highest arrest record of an officer in Middlesbrough and was highly praised by his colleagues for professionalism in a violent area.