ONE of Britain's first dotcom tycoons has vowed to take legal action after he was cleared by a jury of two sex assaults and attempted rape.

David Atherton, 51, was found not guilty of the charges after a two-week trial at Leeds Crown Court. He was also cleared of making a threat to kill and false imprisonment.

Speaking to the M.E.N outside court, Mr Atherton, a self-confessed cocaine addict, said he had been through 'eight months of hell' and vowed to re-build his reputation.

The businessman, who became a multi-millionaire from the sale of his online computer retail company Dabs.com to British Telecom in 2006, added that he had been drug-free since the allegations were first made against him in August.

And in a statement, he said he would be taking legal action 'against those who have wronged him, abused his trust and taken advantage of him.'

He said: "I am grateful that after eight months of hell, I have been vindicated."

Mr Atherton, a self-made millionaire who began his working life as a self-stacker at Tesco, was accused of brutally attacking a woman in the kitchen of his £1.2m home in Victoria Road, Heaton, Bolton, in August last year.

The woman told the jury that he dragged her to the ground, sexually assaulted her then attempted to rape her.

She went on to allege that Mr Atherton threatened to drown her in his swimming pool before she ran half-naked out of the house to raise the alarm by flagging down a passing car.

The incident at the centre of the charges was captured and recorded by a state-of-the-art CCTV camera system Mr Atherton had installed at the house. But he said in court that the woman's claims were a 'complete pretence' and a 'sham' designed to get at his money.

The court heard Mr Atherton claimed the incident was part of 'sex games' and the woman had a 'rape fantasy' and put up 'mock resistance' as part of the game.

Allegations

He also detailed how his accuser had approached him for cash after she made the allegations.

The jury took an hour to clear Mr Atherton of all the charges.

The woman who made the allegations cannot be named for legal reasons.

An application to trial judge Jennifer Kershaw QC by Mr Atherton's legal team to lift reporting restrictions so that the woman could be identified was rejected.

In the statement, Mr Atherton hit out at the court's decision on the ruling.

Paul Schofield, his solicitor, said on his behalf: "This case clearly illustrates three things. Firstly, the dangers of taking drugs. Secondly the fact that there really are no lengths that shameless people will not go to in order to achieve their ends.

"Finally, the unfairness in a case specifically arising from a malicious and wholly untrue complaint of the rule that a lying and manipulative complainant enjoys anonymity, whereas an innocent defendant does not.

"Whilst the result today does go a long way to restoring Mr Atherton's earlier impeccable reputation, it is his firm intention to take legal action against those who have wronged him, abused his trust and taken advantage of his former vulnerability."

The trial heard evidence of drug use, sex parties and nightclubs.

Mr Atherton admitted to being a cocaine user before he sold the business and revealed to the jury that his addiction to the drug worsened after the sale was completed.

He said the woman was a 'high class escort' and told the jury that she asked for money when they had sex.

She claimed his paranoia worsened with his drug use and that he said there were secret passageways in the walls of his luxury home and she was working for the 'bent police'.

Mr Atherton detailed 'uninhibited sexual activity' with the woman and others, both men and women, and told how he took part in group-sex sessions.

He said he would constantly party and lived the high life.

Mr Atherton also thanked his friends and family after today's verdict.

The statement added: "From the very outset Mr Atherton firmly denies all these allegations. He claimed that this case was a malicious complaint and a set-up.

Vindicated

"The verdicts, the speed with which they were returned, and the order for costs, all vindicate him completely."

It is believed that the total costs of the court case and its investigations have topped £500,000.

Mr Atherton, who has a grown-up daughter, began working as a shelf-stacker for Tesco then became a clerk for the Inland Revenue.

He became interested in personal computers in the 1980s and went on to work for the BBC.

He moved to Bolton from London and formed Dabs Press, a computer book publishing firm with a business partner.

The business was run from a flat above a newsagents in Bolton.

The company became catalogue firm Dabs Direct in 1990, then Dabs.com, an online computer retailer in 1999.

The company had a turnover of £25m and at the time he sold it, sales were £150m and the firm was making an annual profit of £5m.