A former Norwich teacher has been cleared of carrying out indecent assaults against two former pupils more than 40 years ago.

Ian Terry, 78, had gone on trial having denied historical sex offences against two boys - who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Norwich Crown Court heard he was accused of indecent assault against one of them and two counts of indecent assault, relating to inappropriate touching, on the other.

The court heard the allegations related to a time Mr Terry had been a teacher at the former Bracondale School in Norwich in the 1980s.

But Mr Terry was cleared after a jury of eight women and four men took almost five and a half hours to find him not guilty of all counts late on Friday (September 30) afternoon.

The trial had heard how Mr Terry had denied touching the two pupils inappropriately.

Giving evidence, Mr Terry told defence barrister Andrew Oliver why he had left the school.

"I wasn't a qualified teacher and that was it really," he said.

He was asked whether the headmaster had spoken to him about a complaint that a boy had made about him.

Mr Terry said: "No."

The court heard that a report from a consultant clinical psychologist concluded that Mr Terry "would have difficulty taking part in the trial process".

It was as a result of "cognitive impairments" suffered by Mr Terry after he previously suffered two aneurisms as a result of a stroke in 1997.

As a result, Mr Terry has dysphasia, a language disorder, likely to have been a result of the stroke, and was found to be suffering from a "dementia process".

During his trial Mr Terry, of Marlingford Way, Easton, near Norwich, appeared in court alongside an intermediary to assist him.

Bracondale School was a private boys' school in the Bracondale area of Norwich, Norfolk.

The school, which took borders as well as day pupils, was open from 1821 to 1993.