A student who earns spare cash as a police stripogram has been cleared of possessing offensive weapons after the case was thrown out of court.

Stuart Kennedy, 24, carried two batons and a spray for his part-time job as a stripper.

The genetics student was questioned and later charged by police after performing at a bar in Aberdeen.

He went on trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court accused of possessing offensive weapons.

But today Sheriff Kenneth Stewart upheld a defence submission of no case to answer.

The sheriff said he believed Mr Kennedy had "reasonable excuse" to carry the batons because he was using them as props.

Speaking outside the court after the case, Mr Kennedy said: "Finally common sense has prevailed. I am just a guy trying to do my job to the best of my ability."

Mr Kennedy said he had made 13 court appearances and spent 41 hours in police custody.

"This makes me angry and sad how much public resources have been wasted prosecuting - correction, persecuting - a stripper who uses police uniform and props."

Mr Kennedy, of Aberdeen's Links View, was cautioned and charged after two genuine Grampian policewomen noticed him outside the city's Paramount Bar on the evening of March 17 this year.

Thinking he was a colleague, they greeted him, to which he replied: "I am not a police officer, I am stripper."

One of the officers, PC Fiona Duncan told the court: "I had never come across a situation like this in my six years of service."

The officers allowed him to perform his strip routine before taking him to Grampian Police headquarters for questioning.

When asked why he had the spray and the canister, Mr Kennedy replied that it was for defensive purposes, adding: "Drunk guys get very jealous of male strippers."

Mr Kennedy was charged later that week.

He was also originally charged with impersonating a police officer, but this was later dropped by prosecutors.

Mr Kennedy's solicitor Iain McGregor told the court: "The two items (batons) in charges one and two were being used as props in the performance being carried out by Mr Kennedy."

He added that the sheriff should also throw out the charge of possessing the fake spray as there was no evidence that the item in the charge was a spray.

Fiscal depute Ian Warburton said the batons were not "toys" and did not have an innocent purpose.

He added that although it was not ascertained what the spray was, it contained a substance capable of disorientating somebody.

Mr Warburton said Mr Kennedy was "simply a facsimile" of a police officer.

He added: "He is of course masquerading as a police officer, he is in full police uniform."

But in his judgment, Sheriff Stewart said: "It seems to me that in all the circumstances there does exist reasonable excuse for possession of these items."

Turning to the issue of the spray, he added: "In the absence of analysis by the Crown of the contents, assuming there were any contents in the canister, I cannot conclude that the possession of the canister was with the intention of causing harm or injury."