A Police sergeant from South Tyneside who once used steroids as a form of male contraceptive pill, has been cleared of supply charges.
Darren Towers, who was caught with a stash of the class C drug at his home, was accused of conspiring with Martin Flett, of Jarrow, and Martin Fannan, of County Durham, to supply to bodybuilding friends.
Prosecutors also alleged he turned a blind eye to his friends' involvement with the drugs.
The 41-year-old Northumbria Police officer, who lived in Jarrow, denied conspiracy to supply class C drugs between April 2009 and April 2010, and misconduct in public office between the same dates, during a trial at Newcastle Crown Court.
He admitted in court he had started using steroids as a contraceptive in the 1990s, but said he stopped when he and his wife decided to start a family.
He told jurors he started using steroids again when his interest in bodybuilding as a hobby turned competitive in 2006.
But throughout the trial, Towers said he believed what he was doing was not illegal.
After a four-day trial and six hours' deliberation, the jury cleared him of conspiring to supply or failing to investigate others he knew were involved in supplying.
Towers, who was suspended from the force when the allegations against him were made earlier this year, did not wish to comment after the hearing.
Flett, 27, and Fannan, 34, have admitted conspiracy and are being dealt with separately.
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