Crown withdraws charges against N.S. school principal following his death

The Crown has withdrawn sexual assault charges against a Nova Scotia elementary school principal because the accused died before the case could be brought to trial.

Mark Alexander Thornton, 52, was charged in July of last year with sexual exploitation and sexual assault. The alleged offences occurred between the fall of 2001 and the summer of 2002, when the complainant would have been 14.

Thornton was placed on administrative leave from his job at the Plymouth School when the charges were laid. He died on Monday.

The Crown went toprovincial court in Yarmouth, N.S., on Friday morning to formally withdraw the charges.