A former US Air Force pilot has been cleared of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl.

Robert Prussak, 57, approached the girl after she became separated from her family during a trip from France on April 22.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was standing outside the Harrods store in Knightsbridge, London, after a trial at Isleworth Crown Court.

Mr Prussak then went with her to his flat and was accused of giving her bitter-tasting water containing the antihistamine Benadryl, which made her tired, the court said.

It is alleged the pilot, of no fixed address, then took the girl to Hyde Park and sexually assaulted her.

Mr Prussak was arrested later that day after he and the girl were spotted walking past the Israeli embassy by a Metropolitan Police officer who had been tipped off that she was missing.

He was searched and said, “I was just trying to help her,” according to Sergeant Edward Lucas.

Mr. Prussak denied all charges against him and a jury found him not guilty on Tuesday.

Judge Edward Connell told Mr Prussak, who collapsed in the prosecution when he was acquitted, that he was free to go.

Jurors asked if there was any DNA evidence of sexual assault a little over an hour after they began deliberating on Monday, and the judge said there wasn’t.

Mr. Prussak was found not guilty of three counts of sexual assault on a child under the age of 13.

He was also cleared of one count of kidnapping, one count of kidnapping with intent to commit a sex offense and one count of administering a substance with intent.