A FORMER councillor has been cleared of trying to murder his girlfriend.

Leo McKnight, 59, of Epping Road, Roydon, was accused of attempting to kill Marcia McKnight in July last year, while the pair were living together with their four children.

He told a court how he had found text messages from his partner's priest, asking if she loved him, as well as messages arranging to meet up with another man.

The former district councillor for Nazeing, who stepped down in 2006, was found not guilty by a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday (Monday).