A SOLICITOR has been cleared of any involvement in a conspiracy to commit fraud at Torex Retail.

The company’s former legal director Nigel Horn yesterday walked free from Oxford Crown Court after a 14-week trial.

After 19 hours and 45 minutes of deliberations, the jury told Judge Mary Jane Mowat there was no chance of it reaching a verdict and the case was discharged.

Then Gibson Grenfell, prosecuting, said the Crown Prosecution Service would now offer no evidence to the charge, leading to a formal verdict of not guilty.

Mr Horn, of The Avenue, Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, denied one count of conspiracy to defraud between November 1, 2006, and January 26, 2007.

The 59-year-old was tried alongside the company’s former group financial accountant Mark Woodbridge, who was also found not guilty yesterday of the two false accounting charges still outstanding against him.

On Wednesday he was convicted of two counts of being involved in a conspiracy to defraud the shareholders of Torex Retail, as well as one count of false accounting, and will be sentenced this afternoon.

The company’s former chairman, Robert Loosemore, and chief executive Christopher Moore admitted two charges of conspiracy to defraud in January.

Torex Retail, which supplied software for shops and pub tills, had offices in Witney and Banbury.