A man falsely accused of sexually molesting a young girl in a supermarket today spoke for the first time about his nightmare ordeal.
Miroslav Machecek, a teacher from Prague in the Czech Republic, spent five months in prison and endured a living hell after being accused of indecently touching the 10-year-old as she stood holding her mother's hand in the delicatessen queue at a Wigan supermarket.
The girl's mother claimed that Mr Machecek reached his hand under the girl's right arm and started groping her chest, something that he has vigorously denied since being accused in March of last year.
Last week a jury at Liverpool Crown Court took just an hour and 15 minutes - including lunch - to clear him.
Mr Machecek said: "This is the first time in my life I have been in trouble with the police. I was scared in prison, they were saying that I had done bad things.
"I came here looking for work and a better life, but it has all turned into a nightmare and I have done nothing wrong."
Mr Machecek said he shopped in Asda frequently and on this occasion moved from one queue to the other because it was quite busy.
He added: "I did a joke with the child and touched her on the right shoulder. The mother looked toward her daughter and saw my hand there, I did not do anything wrong.
"In my country you can do a joke with a child, but here you can get in very serious trouble."
Mr Machecek, who came to live in this country in March 2005, spent five months in custody at Forrest Bank Prison in Manchester and Walton Prison in Liverpool awaiting trial.
He was refused bail on the grounds that he did not have his own place of residency.
The CCTV evidence shown in court was inconclusive, but two female witnesses told Liverpool Crown Court that they had seen Mr Machecek tap the child on the shoulder.
If he had been found guilty he would have been facing up to 12 years in jail.
Mr Machecek said: "I want to say thank you to the two women for telling the court what really happened. They saved me from going to jail."
He said he had been helped through this difficult time by Patrick McAvoy who teaches English to speakers of different languages at Wigan and Leigh College.
The two men met while Mr Machecek was attending his classes.
Mr McAvoy is currently providing Mr Machecek with accommodation at his home in Stirling Street, Swinley.
He said: "It is such a shame that this has happened. Now it's important that Miroslav gets a job as soon as possible, otherwise without any money he will have to back to the Czech Republic.
"Unfortunately he can't stay here for much longer, we're struggling for room and I have my own life to get on with.
"We've been to all the local job agencies to get Miroslav a job but with no luck. We're both hoping that something will turn up soon."