Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, founder of the Barnabas Fund, has been found not guilty of indecent assault at his trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

He was arrested in November 2015 at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of an assault on a woman in Plaistow, East London, in 1977, following an investigation by detectives from Newham borough.

Sookhdeo founded Barnabas Fund, which supports persecuted Christians around the world, in 1993. He was found guilty in February 2015 of a sexual assault on a woman in his office. He was also found guilty of intimidating witnesses in the case. He was given three-month community sentences for each offence and told to pay costs and a victim surcharge. At his conviction then, the judge said: 'You will be hugely punished by these convictions and your life will change for good.'

Sookhdeo resigned from the Barnabas International Aid charity after the conviction. However, the board declined to accept his resignation as its international director and he was quickly reinstated as a trustee.

He resigned as a trustee of Barnabas Aid International and from his positions as international director and chief executive of Barnabas Fund in November 2015 following his arrest on the charge on which he has now been acquitted.