A former soldier has been cleared of bullying his mother into signing over her home after a legal battle with his sisters.

Jason McCreanney, of Little Drive, South Ferring, took his three sisters to the High Court in a bid to get control of the house.

Jennifer McCreanney, Sarah Mansfield and Sandra Marien had placed a caution order on the £150,000 property to stop their brother selling it.

Yesterday, Deputy Judge Nicholas Warren agreed to Mr McCreanney's request for an order cancelling the caution.

Doreen McCreanney, who died aged 65 in February 2000, had signed over the family home in Mile Oak Road, Southwick, to her son in 1991.

Mr McCreanney, 35, who served in Northern Ireland in the Nineties, gave his mother £25,000 in return to help tackle her spiralling debts and mortgage payments.

His sisters responded by placing a caution on the property in the official charges register.

The judge said the sisters had made "serious allegations" against their brother, some of which were "entirely irrelevant".

He dismissed claims Mr McCreanney had exercised duress or undue influence to persuade his mother to complete the transfer.

He said: "There is no reason to think that Mrs McCreanney was not fully and properly advised, or was unaware of what she was doing when she transferred the property."

There might have been later occasions when she "regretted" her actions but she was of "sound mind and good health" when she made the decision.

The judge said Jennifer McCreanney, who represented herself in court, was "prone to exaggeration".

She had claimed her brother "duped" their mother and "coerced" her into making the transfert.

Speaking after the verdict, Mrs Mansfield said: "The whole thing has been absolutely horrible.

"The judge made it quite clear we wouldn't be able to take this any further. He denied us leave to appeal. I don't see what we can do.

"This was a conscience thing for us. We had to try to see what we saw as our mother's wishes were carried out. We would never have forgiven ourselves if we hadn't."

The family had lived in the house since 1985. Mr McCreanney is now renting it out to tenants.