Jury clears Trevor Francis' son of Lee Hendrie house raid

Jurors at Warwick Crown Court took little more than an hour following a four-day trial to unanimously find James Francis not guilty of a single count of burglary.

In a statement issued after the verdict, the 26-year-old and his family said he had been through 'two years of hell' because the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had withheld vital information about the case.

Francis, of Chancel Court, Solihull, told the court on Wednesday that he visited Hendrie's £1.6 million home in Rowington, Warwickshire, in May 2011 to assess the cost of cleaning the property.

The cleaning company supervisor was initially questioned about the alleged break-in in August 2011 after his fingerpints were found in a one-bedroom cottage attached to Hendrie's mansion.

Hendrie and his wife Emma had alleged that six souvenir football shirts, a Vertu mobile phone, sunglasses, ladies' footwear, a set of golf clubs, an earring and a designer bag were taken from the cottage between July 1 and August 2, 2011.

The trial was told that Hendrie's wife, Emma, submitted an insurance claim form following the burglary which Francis's counsel described as containing 'bare-faced' lies.

The form, in which it was falsely stated that Mr Hendrie had no previous convictions, was not given to defence lawyers until part-way through this week's trial. In a statement read out by defence solicitor Mr Jim Crocker after the not guilty verdict, the Francis family questioned why the case had been brought before a jury.

Addressing the media on the steps of the court, Mr Crocker said: "James Francis, his father Trevor, mother Helen and brother Matthew are obviously delighted and relieved at the jury's unanimous verdict. They all thank their legal team, their witnesses and the jury."

Accusing the CPS of withholding information about the insurance claim from the defence, Mr Crocker added: "That documentation showed incontrovertibly that false information had been submitted to the Halifax in support of an insurance claim.

Giving evidence on Wednesday, James Francis said he may have left two thumb-prints at the cottage while preparing a quote for cleaning the mansion, which was in an 'absolute mess'.

During the trial, the Crown alleged that the football pundit's son returned to the property, named Finwood Lawn, to break into the cottage between July 1 and August 2, 2011. During his closing speech to the jury, defence barrister Mr Michael Hubbard QC told the jury the prosecution case was 'riddled with inaccuracies'.

Asserting that the CPS had 'suppressed' details of the insurance claim made by the Hendries, Mr Hubbard said: "If that hadn't surfaced on Tuesday, a very serious miscarriage of justice may have occurred."

Hendrie, who was made bankrupt in 2012, was 'almost in the financial gutter' at the time of the insurance claim and was desperate for money, Mr Hubbard also claimed.