A British teenager was cleared of exposing himself to a nine-year-old boy after a court felt the evidence produced was "grossly lacking".

The 18-year-old Briton, who was 16 when charged with the crime, was found not guilty of committing lewd acts with a minor, who was also British, two years ago in Gozo.

The police were alerted to the case after the father of a third young boy filed a report claiming his son was sexually abused by the nine-year-old Briton. The nine-year-old, in turn, told the police he had done what the 16-year-old did to him. He said the teenager had shown him pornographic internet sites and exposed himself.

The teenager denied the claims and said all they used to do was swim together or play video games. He denied surfing the internet together.

After he ended the friendship with the nine-year-old, he heard from a mutual friend that the boy was spreading false rumours out of spite, accusing him of accessing pornographic sites.

In her judgement, Magistrate Edwina Grima said she was faced with a "degree of doubt" about what truly happened because the evidence presented was full of doubts and half truths.

She pointed out that the court could be morally convinced that something had actually happened between the two but the evidence in was "grossly lacking". For example, many people mentioned by the victim and indicated by the accused in his written statement were not asked to give evidence, she noted. As a result, the evidence produced was inadequate to find the teenager guilty beyond reasonable doubt and she cleared him of all charges.