ANIMAL rights activist Alan Cooper was yesterday cleared of a charge

of indecency with Freddie the friendly dolphin -- and then announced

plans for a celebration swim with him.

Cheers rang out from the packed public gallery at Newcastle Upon Tyne

Crown Court as the jury returned after an hour to announce a unanimous

not guilty verdict at the end of an unprecedented trial.

Mr Cooper, 39, nodded in appreciation and said as he walked from the

court he was planning an early celebration swim with Freddie, described

during the trial as the ''world's friendliest dolphin'', who has lived

around Amble Harbour, Northumberland, for five years.

''I have been completely vindicated despite the fact that I knew that

I was totally innocent,'' said Mr Cooper, a self-employed gardener of

Welbeck Street, Gorton, Manchester.

He had pleaded not guilty to a charge of outraging public decency by

masturbating Freddie's penis while swimming with him in the harbour 15

months ago, watched by people in a boat who complained to police.

Mr Cooper denied the charge, claiming it was normal for the dolphin's

penis to be exposed while people swam with him and that he came into

contact with it accidentally.

He said after the verdict: ''I have suffered severe mental anguish

during the past year. I will continue my mission to see that the captive

dolphins at Flamingoland and Windsor are returned to their natural home

in the open sea.''

During the trial the defence claimed the people who complained had

been encouraged to do so by Mr Peter Bloom, manager of the dolphinarium

at Flamingoland in north Yorkshire.

It was alleged Mr Bloom had acted as a ''back-seat driver'' in a bid

to smear Mr Cooper because of his campaigns against dolphins being kept

in captivity.

Mr Cooper told the court that, after his arrest, he received death

threats and hate mail. His mother, who has since died, had been very

upset by the publicity his arrest received.

The Attorney-General, Sir Patrick Mayhew, is to be questioned in the

House of Commons about the cost to public funds of the case.

Mr Geoffrey Dickens, Conservative MP for Littleborough and

Saddleworth, said the decision to mount a prosecution was ''batty beyond

belief'' and that he would table a question asking the Attorney-General

to investigate the circumstances and the cost.

He added: ''This is the most ridiculous case I have heard of. It is an

absolute absurdity and I cannot for the life of me fathom how the

prosecuting authorities came to reach their decision.''