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A grooming probe against a taxi driver was dropped by police after he blamed his cousin - even though the relative may not even exist.

The married man was investigated for allegedly sending explicit messages to someone he thought was a 12-year-old girl.

It was also claimed that a discussion about meeting was held.

It is understood the ‘girl’ was actually a paedophile-hunting vigilante group.

The messages were allegedly sent using the man’s home Wi-Fi, on his iPhone and were traced to his IP address.

But Cleveland Police said there was “insufficient evidence” to prosecute him after the man - whose identity was withheld - blamed it on a cousin.

However that cousin was never found.

Rejecting the man’s bid for his taxi licence back, a Stockton Council committee cast doubt over the cousin’s existence.

Now one of the councillors who waded through evidence - including redacted police reports and victim statements - is calling for police to take another look at the case.

“I don’t think the police made a sufficient effort to attempt and trace this cousin, if there even is a cousin,” said Stockton Council’s Chris Clough.

“I would fully support the case being reviewed.”

Minutes from a behind-closed-doors hearing reveal that when police swooped on the man’s home they found he was in Pakistan.

Officers from the Police Online Investigation Team (POLIT) ordered his wife not to reveal police had been.

However she ignored the request, tipping him off before he arrived back on Teesside.

Minutes from the hearing last November said the man alleged his cousin was responsible for the messages after he been given an iPhone 6.

It added: “(The driver’s) explanation that he had given away an iPhone 6 to his cousin, as he needed to contact a sick relative, was not believable.”

The papers also claim the man gave an Imam in Pakistan an iPhone 7, taken out in his wife’s name, for which he was continuing to pay the contract.

Cleveland Police was unable to find the cousin while the taxi driver was also unable to locate him.

The minutes added: “(The man) did not produce any evidence to prove that his cousin actually existed. “

“(He) had not taken any steps to do so or given any proactive assistance to the police other than to provide them with his name.

“The committee did not believe (him).”

The panel heard the man had co-operated with police and had no record of complaints.

“The committee noted (he) left Pakistan and came back to the UK earlier than he was expecting to,” added the report.

“This was not the action of someone who had something to hide.”

However councillors refused to give the man his taxi licence back, which had been immediately revoked after Cleveland Police launched its investigation.

They decided on a balance of probabilities that he was not a ‘fit and proper’ person to hold a licence.

A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: “We received information of potential grooming via a third party and launched a thorough investigation despite the alleged suspect leaving the UK for a time.

“On his arrival back in the country he was interviewed by police and it was established that no formal complaint had been received and essential evidence was unfortunately no longer available.

“The investigation was therefore closed with no further police action - unless new information comes to light.

“The original information remains on our systems and would be taken into account by police in any disclosure and barring application.”