A GHANAIAN male nurse has been cleared of sexually assaulting a pensioner while working at Mayday University Hospital, in Thornton Heath.

Joseph Ampene, 43, had been working as an agency nurse when an 88-year-old woman alleged that Mr Ampene had sexually assaulted her while washing her on August 26 last year.

But the father-of-four, of Leander Road, Thornton Heath, was acquitted by a jury at Croydon Crown Court on Tuesday.

Relatives of the woman, who had been admitted to Mayday with a broken ankle but caught MRSA, said that she told them during visiting hours that Mr Ampene had "been naughty".

Mr Ampene denied any wrongdoing. He added that he had been linked with the Salvation Army in Ghana for 22 years and there had never been a complaint against him.

Mr Ampene said: "I came here to get more experience in the modern way of nursing and then to go back to serve the community in Ghana.

"I was taking a management course, I only had two more weeks to go when I was arrested."