A SAINTS player has spoken of his delight after child sex offences against him were dropped by the prosecution.

It was the second time Adam Walker from Shipley, Yorkshire had faced charges relating to the allegations involving a 14-year-old girl which led to his initial arrest in 2015.

Walker signed for Saints in the of season after his previous club Hull Kr were relegated.

The first set of proceedings accusing him of attempted to engage in sexual activity were dismissed last year after his defence argued the original charges were wrong in law when the prosecution applied to amend them. However, it was said the case could be reinstated with new charges.

He subsequently faced a fresh charge of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and two charges of allegedly meeting a child following sexual grooming.

But at Leeds Crown Court, Judge James Spencer QC heard no evidence was being offered against the 25-year-old on all charges. 

Walker was at Hull Kingston Rovers whe he was intially arrested.

After the hearing he said: “I am delighted by the decision that the Crown Prosecution Service has taken to offer no evidence against me and to accept, as I have always maintained, that I was entirely innocent of any wrongdoing.

“Due to a series of errors made by the CPS I have now had to endure facing criminal charges relating to the same allegation twice and on each occasion those charges have been dismissed.

“As a result I have had to endure adverse publicity and have been placed under considerable and unjustified stress. 

“If the police had properly investigated the case these charges would never have been brought and it is only because my legal team supplied evidence to the prosecution that proved my innocence that justice has been done.”

He thanked his solicitor Ian Clarke of Murrays, Bradford and Richard Wright QC “for all their efforts on my behalf.”

“I have been supported throughout these proceedings by my clubs, my friends, my colleagues and my family and I would particularly like to thank the Rugby League, St Helens Rugby Club, Hull Kingston Rovers Rugby Club and more importantly the fans of both those clubs.”

Adrienne Gower, head of the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit at CPS Yorkshire and Humberside, said: “We have a duty to continuously review all our cases.

"New material was recently brought to our attention and has now been assessed. We concluded in the light of this new material that there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction and so the case was dropped.”