DISGRACED former Radio One DJ Chris Denning has been cleared of abusing another underage boy.

Denning, 76, of Collingwood Road, Basildon, was said to have indecently assaulted a 14-year-old boy on multiple occasions between March 1979 and March 1981. It was also alleged he took indecent photographs of the boy.

Denning denied two indecent assaults and one offence of taking indecent images of a child and was due to stand trial in June but prosecutors dropped the case on June 13.

This could not be reported due to the trial of pop personality Jonathan King at the same court.

King was accused of 23 serious sexual assault offences against boys aged between 14 and 16 which were alleged to have taken place between 1970 and 1988.

However, King’s trial has now collapsed due to a string of disclosure blunders by Surrey Police and he has been cleared.

Denning, who was one of the founding presenters on Radio One, is currently serving a 13-year jail term for child sex abuse following previous convictions.

The prolific paedophile used his fame to groom and sexually assault dozens of young victims in the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties.

He took some of the boys to London on several occasions and introduced them to other celebrities, including Gary Glitter.

That sentence was in addition to an existing 13-year jail sentence for a catalogue of sexual assaults against 24 victims, including one at Jimmy Savile’s home.

Denning lured boys into his house and plied them with records, alcohol and cigarettes before showing them pornography and forcing them to perform sex acts on him.

The two sentences are running concurrently.

Denning worked for Radio One and was also employed as a Radio Two announcer and music producer.

He was one of a gang of men who targeted youngsters at 1970s disco the Walton Hop in Walton-Upon-Thames, Surrey.

Denning was arrested in April 2013 under Operation Yewtree, the Metropolitan Police probe launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal.

Denning had been working for King’s company UK Records, but was later sacked by King. An independent review will take place into the collapse of the latest trial.

Surrey Police has apologised for serious failings in their investigation and an urgent independent review has been commissioned following the decision to dismiss the case due to failures in the disclosure process. There will be no further action against King and he will not be re-tried. King was released from jail in 2005 after serving half of a seven-year jail term for abusing underage boys, a conviction he plans to appeal. Denning was cleared of the latest charges but remains in prison.