A former police chief dogged by sex abuse claims has been found dead, police have confirmed.

The body of John Walker, an exchief inspector with Leicestershire Police, was discovered on a railway track in Cossington, Leicestershire, on Friday night. He had been hit by a high-speed intercity train.

Walker, aged 55, of Hillmorton, Rugby, Warwickshire, found out hours earlier that he was to face a second trial on rape and indecent assault charges against a 15-yearold girl. British Transport Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.

Walker, who retired from the police force a decade ago after 20 years' service, was first rocked by abuse claims in January 2004, when he was accused of molesting a 12-year-old girl.

He admitted a charge of indecent assault, telling the court he had put his hands inside her underwear as she slept, but had stopped when he realised what he was doing.

He avoided jail after the judge accepted the assault was isolated, escaping instead with a three-year community rehabilitation order.

During that hearing the court was told the father-of-five had attempted suicide when the incident first came to light.

Eighteen months later, Walker was back in the dock accused of repeatedly molesting a teenager in the mid 1980s, when he was still serving at Leicester's Charles Street police station.

The unidentified woman also claimed Mr Walker raped her at his home in 1987 - shortly before her 16th birthday.

He denied the charges, but did admit they had sex after she had come of age.

A jury failed to reach a verdict earlier this month and on Friday afternoon the Crown Prosecution Service informed Walker it planned to go ahead with a retrial.

He penned a suicide note to his estranged wife Marie, telling her he was going to take his own life because he was unable to face the "heartache and embarrassment" that another trial would bring.