A MAN arrested by officers from Operation Bullfinch has been cleared of raping and sexually assaulting a young girl.

Jurors at Reading Crown Court took two hours and 20 minutes yesterday to clear 22-year-old Sameer Tasib of attacking the girl.

The prosecution had told the jury that on one occasion Mr Tasib, of Wilkins Road, Oxford, had pulled a 13-year-old schoolgirl into his father’s Audi 4x4 by her hair and raped her.

He was also accused of carrying out a second attack, again in his car, when the victim claimed her trousers and underwear were pulled down.

The girl was described as vulnerable and naive and the prosecution said her life spiralled out of control into a life of drink and drugs after she went to secondary school and mixed with the wrong crowd.

In his defence, Mr Tasib, who worked six night shifts a week as a taxi driver for his father, admitted he had two sexual encounters with the girl but that both of them had been consensual, at her instigation and in the back of the black cab.

Jurors were told the girl had been 13 years old when she first made contact with the alleged defendant on Facebook. They then began exchanging messages, phone numbers and text messages.

Mr Tasib said they were “flirty” messages and he believed she was interested in him sexually.

He said he had also seen her at the Nanford Guest House in the company of other men he knew.

The Oxford Mail was unable to report this was an Operation Bullfinch case during the trial.