A schoolteacher who consumed a bottle of wine while on anti-depressants has been cleared of groping a fellow theatre-goer sitting next to him.

Charles Maxwell, 53, of Exeter Close, Watford told a jury his memory of the incident was erased and produced medical evidence to support his claim.

“I can’t remember touching anyone’s leg,” he told Inner London Crown Court.

“Maybe I was asleep and it was an involuntary action.”

The jury took just 45 minutes to unanimously find Mr Maxwell not guilty of sexually assaulting the woman at a performance of ‘Amadeus’ at the Olivier Theatre on London’s South Bank on November 5, last year.

Witnesses said Mr Maxwell, who taught English at the Jewish Yavneh College, Borehamwood until February this year, also fiddled with his trousers, which were hanging off him when he stood up.

But Mr Maxwell told the court : “I was probably moving my trousers because the button way cutting into my stomach. For someone of my size I’m forever adjusting my posture in the seat.”

Glowing character references from the school’s headmaster and colleagues, praising Mr Maxwell’s work and ability as a teacher, were read to the jury. He taught at the school for five years, specialising in ‘A’ Level literature.

Mr Maxwell said had told the court he was depressed since his wife left him and he had drunk two large glasses of wine after the interval at the theatre.

“It was to knock myself out,” he said.