Cleared: Geography teacher Kato Harris outside court last week where he was cleared of rape after allegations made by a 14-year-old pupil

A high-flying private school teacher falsely accused of raping a 14-year-old pupil three times has been left ‘financially ruined’ by defending himself in court.

Kato Harris was cleared in just 26 minutes by a jury last week in a verdict that has sparked furious criticism of the Crown Prosecution Service’s decision to bring the case to court.

Friends, who say the 37-year-old has been ‘crushed by the stress’ and ‘emotionally beaten up’, have now rallied round to set up an online fund-raising appeal to help pay off his £195,000 legal bill.

Mr Harris wept in the dock as he was cleared of three counts of sexually assaulting the pupil, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The then head of geography at an £18,000-a-year all-girls London secondary school was accused of raping the pupil on three separate occasions in a classroom during lunch breaks in the autumn term of 2013.

Giving evidence in court, Mr Harris said he was taking a drug for anxiety which caused loss of libido, and insisted it would have been ‘completely impossible’ for him to carry out the attacks.

The court heard how the door of the classroom where the rapes were alleged to have happened, had a glass panel, could not be locked from the inside and was in a corridor patrolled during lunchtime by teachers.

It also emerged in court that the pupil’s wealthy parents hired Sue Akers, a former deputy assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard, as a private investigator.

Miss Akers, who was employed by top legal firm Mishcon de Reya, held several meetings with serving officers about the case, as well as meeting the pupil.

William Clegg QC, defending, claimed Miss Akers had asked the police for access to court papers and ‘sought to give directions’ to officers about ‘what they should do’.

The officer leading the investigation, Detective Constable Sarah Lloyd, even admitted in court that it was ‘unique’ for a former high-ranking officer to be involved in this way.

The rape allegations only emerged after the girl moved to a new school, with the pupil initially refusing to name Mr Harris.

The teenager, who had previously suffered from an eating disorder and was bullied, was later flown to New York for weekly sessions with a therapist.

Last night, a close friend of Mr Harris told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Kato has been absolutely mentally and physically crushed by the stress and it has left him financially ruined and emotionally beaten up.

Appeal for help: The fundraising page set up by friends of Mr Harris to try and cover his legal fees

‘It seems so unfair that a clearly innocent man has had to put himself in such a situation to clear his name for something that had never happened in the first place.’

Despite winning the case, it is not certain that Mr Harris will be able to claim back his legal costs. It is not clear whether an application for costs has yet been made by Mr Harris’s legal representatives but any surplus funds raised from the online appeal will be donated to a charity which supports victims of sexual abuse.

The Just Giving page, set up by friend Sarah Tate, reads: ‘Justice has been done, but at a heavy cost. Kato has spent his life savings of £10,000 on legal costs for his defence and is left with a debt of £195,000. Kato has no hope of paying this.’

After being cleared on Monday, an emotional Mr Harris said outside court: ‘It is my sincere wish that this extraordinary case does not deter people who have been victims of sexual assault from coming forward in the future.’ He added: ‘There is a beautiful, wonderful world out there and for 20 months I’ve been terrified of it. I’ve been hiding from it.

‘I’m now going to walk into it a good man and a free man.’