by ANDREW LOUDON, Daily Mail

A teacher told last night how he had been 'to hell and back' after a 13-year- old girl pupil falsely accused him of indecent assault.

John Tallon was speaking after being cleared by a jury which took just 20 minutes to agree on his innocence.

The 46-year-old history teacher lost his job after the girl made her claims last July, and only one of his colleagues supported him.

His wife Clare said last night: 'I don't know if he should go back into teaching - it is such a dangerous place to be.'

Her husband had worked for the Inland Revenue for 15 years before making a career change which involved the whole family making huge sacrifices.

Mrs Tallon supported him financially as he went through four years of university and teacher training.

But just as he was given his first full-time post he was devastated by the false allegations made by the girl.

She claimed Mr Tallon courted her by buying her gifts including a heart-shaped locket and taking her on trips to the countryside where he kissed her and suggested they spend a night together.

Mr Tallon said he had made no improper advances and denied giving her presents. He said she had never been in his car and he could account for his movements on the days she claimed they had been together.

The jury at Liverpool Crown Court saw through the girl's fantasies and cleared Mr Tallon of three changes of indecent assault.

As the verdicts were delivered yesterday, Mrs Tallon burst into tears and hugged her husband, telling jurors: 'Thank you.'

Last night at their home in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, they spoke of their ordeal and called for a change in the way such allegations are investigated.

Mr Tallon suggested an Ofsted- style body to weed out spurious complaints quickly before police are called in.

'Teachers are open to these allegations every day of their working lives,' he said. 'They are extremely vulnerable and it is so easy for a child with a crush to wreck someone's career.

'Since this began last July I have been pilloried and shunned. My family have suffered greatly.' He said ten-year-old Paul, the youngest of their three sons, had been 'sobbing his heart out'.

He added: 'I was at the pinnacle of what I wanted to be, then in the first week of the summer holidays, on July 28, the child protection unit of Merseyside Police knocked on my door and ended my world.

'When they had heard my account and explanations of my whereabouts on days the girl claimed I was with her they told me they didn't think it would go any further.

'But in September, when I should have been starting my new job, the Crown Prosecution Service said it was taking it to court.

'My contract was terminated and I was banned from teaching in Liverpool.

'With no income, and unable to claim dole, I got offered jobs building the baby Jaguar at Ford and meter-reading in Wigan, but had to withdraw from both when they asked if I had any prosecutions pending.

'Yet the girl's story was so absurd it quickly collapsed under cross-examination. She claimed I had taken her for drives in the country on days I could luckily account for my movements.

'And her mother told how she had found 40 fantasy love notes written in her daughter's handwriting but supposedly signed by me and addressed to her.

'The jury could still have believed her and it could have gone either way but they very quickly came back with acquittals.

'I have no idea what is going to happen to me now.

'My life was teaching and if I could go back to it I would feel privileged but only one teacher from that school stood by me and I found that very disappointing.'

Mrs Tallon said: 'This was a ludicrous case yet it went the distance and put us all through untold agonies.

'I knew the claims were untrue because my husband is an ordinary, thoroughly decent person who only wanted to do good for the children at that school.

'We struggled on my salary while he studied and trained then he worked as a religious education supply teacher because there were no vacancies in his history specialty.

'He was head-hunted for this full-time post and was thrilled to get it. The school wanted to introduce classical civilisation into the A-level syllabus and that was perfect for John.

'He was due to switch from a fixed contract to a staff post from September last year but in the first week of the summer holidays the police came knocking at the door and the nightmare began.

'I feel elated that the jury saw through the girl's lies and I just hope and pray that our sons can put all this behind them. It has been a very bad time for all of us.'