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A BEAUFORT policeman accused of letting a woman he slept with get away with driving offences was yesterday cleared of all misconduct charges.The jury returned a not guilty verdict to three counts of misconduct in a public office following a seven-day trial in the County Court in Ballarat.Outside court yesterday, 53-year-old Rex Charles Buncle said the trial had been the "worst experience of his life".A police officer for more than 20 years, he expressed relief at the jury's decision. "It was a correct decision and a very just one and I'm very happy with it," he said. Mr Buncle said the whole process had been difficult. "It's been the worst experience of my life to face a jury and a judge," he said.Mr Buncle's lawyer Geoffrey Steward said they had got "a fair trial and a just result".During the trial the prosecution alleged Mr Buncle had failed in his duty as a policeman by not conducting radio checks or a preliminary breath test on a woman he observed on his way home from work about 2am on June 24, 2007. The court heard the woman was in a car with no registration plates and her breath smelt of alcohol. Mr Buncle drove the woman to the Ballarat Railway Station but she refused to get out and they went back to his house and had sex. The next morning Mr Buncle dropped the woman back at her car on the way to an accident. Mr Steward said Mr Buncle was a "good bloke" who had given the woman a "bit of a go" and that had blown up in his face. The woman was pulled up by Horsham police later that day and charged with driving while disqualified and driving an unregistered car.Mr Steward said yesterday that a decision on whether Mr Buncle would return to police services would be made by Victoria Police.

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