Ashfield councillor acquitted of child sex allegations'¨against a teen boy vows to take Notts police to court

Councillor Jason Zadrozny was acquitted of all child sex allegations made against him, when he appeared to stand trial at Nottinghamshire Crown Court on Monday.

Coun Zadrozny, 37 who stands on both Ashfield District and Nottinghamshire County councils had been due to stand trial but the judge told him he was acquitted of all charges and free to go.

In court the prosecution explained that the complainant had been spoken with at his address on Sunday night.

A review of the evidence concerned the time when Mr Zadrozny had a red people carrier and a particular property.

His lawyer, Matt Hayes, explained outside the courtroom that there was not sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction, and that was the Crown’s view.

“Our case is there has never been any evidence,” he said. “The significant things in the case regarding a car and a house - the time period did not fit the prosecution’s.”

Councillor Zadrozny was cheered by his supporters when he emerged from the court.

He said: “I am absolutely delighted that justice has been done I have said for two and a half years - it is actually 950 days today - that I was absolutely not guilty and now the judge has found me not guilty of all charges.

“This isn’t a happy day for me - a couple of weeks of weeks after this happened my father died and he never got to see me clear my name.

but now justice will be done.

“I intend to launch a very severe law suit against Nottinghamshire Police.

“There is lots of stuff that did not come out in court today.”

“This shouldn’t have been hanging over anybody for 950 days.

“It’s been horrific - it’s the most horrible thing that anybody can be accused of , especially somebody like me who likes to be with my friends an family

“I’ve been concerned about being around them and their children, I’ve been nervous at family events and because this is a horrible thing to be accused of and the police have never dealt with it properly and you always have people who think there is no smoke without fire.

“Now they can see that not only was this dropped, I am not guilty of all charges

“Of course they have never happened - it is not possible for them to happen - I never met the guy who made the allegations against me and that’s why this whole thing was so ludicrous.

“But quite frankly what i feel is a real disgrace is about the way the criminal proceedings have happened here is is that this puts off genuine people who have got problems with sexual predators or people who have been abused.

“They don’t want to come forward because they see another case being dropped.

“Nottinghamshire police have done nobody a service today.

“I think that it was political and there are lots of other reasons for it.

“We are going to sue Nottinghamshire Police and we are going to take this as high as it gets.

“I have had a very successful political career.

“The residents of Ashfield know me. They know I wasn’t guilty , I have been re-elected twice since these ludicrous allegations and this today is behind us all now my team are behind me and in 2019 we will take over Ashfield District Council and bring some positivity back to Ashfield because it shouldn’t be gutter politics like it has been,”

Coun Zadrozny pleaded not guilty to all the allegations last April.

He denied 24 alleged offences, including four allegations of a sexual nature when the alleged victim was 13 years old.

In a statement, Nottinghamshire Police said: “Information provided by the defence last week led to the decision to not proceed with the case.

“Nottinghamshire Police takes all reports of sexual offences seriously and investigations are conducted impartially, without fear or favour.

“We have a duty to investigate all reports of sexual offences, no matter how long ago the offences occurred or who they are against.

“Victims should feel they will be believed by the police, who will then investigate thoroughly and impartially and follow where the evidence takes us.

“It is not the role of the police to decide on what should be prosecuted or determine guilt or innocence, which is done by a jury.

“We gather the available evidence and present it to the CPS, who consider the evidence and form a decision to charge a person, or not.”