LED Zeppelin did not copy the opening chords of Stairway to Heaven - the iconic song written at Headley Grange in the early 1970s - a US jury has found.

The jury, at a court in Los Angeles, decided the riff Led Zeppelin was accused of taking from Spirit’s 1967 song Taurus “was not intrinsically similar” to Stairway’s opening.

Band members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant said they were grateful to “put to rest questions about (its) origins, confirming what we have known for 45 years”.

The case had been brought on behalf of Spirit’s late guitarist Randy Wolfe.

Singer Plant told the jury, during the trial, that he had written the lyrics more than 45 years ago at Headley Grange, in Liphook Road, which was then a rehearsing and recording venue.

He said he had written the anthem decades ago in the English countryside.