Anton van Dellen cleared of grooming boy for sex via Facebook
- Published
A former ambulance chief has been cleared of grooming a 15-year-old boy for sex.
Anton van Dellen, 41, had denied meeting the boy after chatting with him via Facebook last year and encouraging him to engage in a sex act.
A jury at Basildon Crown Court found Mr van Dellen, of Stamford Brook Avenue, Hammersmith, west London not guilty after a week-long trial.
He previously worked for the Welsh and Staffordshire ambulance services.
During the trial, Mr van Dellen told the court that he was not interested in sex with the boy and the alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, made the first advances.
Mr van Dellen is a qualified medical doctor and barrister and was studying at the University of Cambridge at the time of the alleged offence - between May and June 2011.
He was interim chief executive of the Welsh Ambulance Service for two months until August 2006 and had previously been deputy chief executive of Staffordshire Ambulance Service.