A Latin teacher at an exclusive London prep school has been cleared of sexually abusing children.

Michael Gordon, 55, a member of Pinner and Northwood Liberal Synagogue, was found not guilty of 14 counts of sexual assault on a child under 13 and four of sexual assault between September 1 2006 and April 9 2009.

Southwark Crown Court heard last week that Mr Gordon, a teacher with 25 years’ experience, allegedly stroked the youngsters regularly and pressed himself up against them.

The married father-of-one, who was arrested in April last year, denied any sexual touching and told police that one of the boys had been behaving badly in class and he had threatened to tell his parents, and that this may have been a reason for the allegation.

He told the court: “What to me was innocent behaviour, stupid and whatever it may have been, has been misinterpreted, with some justification in terms of what I was doing.”

Mr Gordon, from Pinner, began teaching French and Latin at the school in around 2001.