A top guitarist who has appeared regularly in the West End musical We Will Rock You has been cleared of possessing indecent images of children after the case against him was dropped.

Jamie Humphries, formerly of Maidstone, was alleged to have downloaded 179 images - 19 at the highest level of seriousness, 24 at the next level and 136 at the lowest level.

He was due to stand trial in May on three charges of making indecent images of children between August 2012 and August 2014.

But prosecutor Bridget Todd formally offered no evidence against Mr Humphries at Maidstone Crown Court.

Miss Todd said the decision was reached after considering a report by a defence expert.

The 43-year-old musician, who has since moved to Sweden and was not present for the brief hearing, had claimed his computer was accessed by a third party.

Tanya Robinson, defending, said any such material was completely inaccessible on the computer hard drive.

“There appeared to be no hits on the drive that supported the fact the pictures had never been present on the device,” she added. “They had been mirrored onto this remotely.”

Judge Philip St John-Stevens entered not guilty verdicts.

Mr Humphries’ website states he has worked as a professional session guitarist for about 15 years and performed on TV soundtracks. He has written three books and taught at the Academy of Contemporary Music.

Photos on the site show him performing on stage alongside former Queen guitarist Brian May.

He previously toured for three years with the Pink Floyd tribute band the Aussie Floyd Show and appeared regularly in the Queen musical.