I think he may have had a choice if he wanted trial by jury, or accept the verdict of the judge.
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www.hg.org]
I'm guessing that if you let a judge decide you might get a more lenient sentence, because you have saved the state the expense of a jury, and it is quicker (decided in a day, whereas a jury would have taken it in to at least a second day)
But I would have thought a judge would be more likely to hand down a guilty verdict. To do otherwise would mean he didn't believe the witnesses, or agree with the CPS decision to bring the case to court.
With a jury, you only need to have three or more with reasonable doubt (witnesses might be mistaken) or just feel sorry for defendant (although that isn't meant to be relevant) and you are either aquited, or if jury can't agree, CPS has to decide id a retrial is in the public interest.