Having missed the funeral of his beloved grandmother Anne Mary due to his plagiarism trial, Ed Sheeran has spoken out about it following his legal win.

The English popstar has been involved in a legal battle over the past number of weeks due to copyright claims over his 2014 hit 'Thinking Out Loud'.

After a jury cleared the songwriter of claims that he copied Marvin Gaye’s classic song 'Let’s Get It On' for the 2014 single, Sheeran told reporters "I am not, and never will allow myself to be, a piggy bank for someone to shake."

"Having to be in New York for this trial has meant that I have missed being with my family at my grandmother’s funeral in Ireland. I won’t get that time back," he continued.

The inspiration and namesake behind his song, ‘Nancy Mulligan’, Sheeran’s grandmother passed away last week, with her funeral having taken place in Wexford on Wednesday, May 3rd.

The 32-year-old had previously said of his trial, had it gone the other way, that he would quit the music industry.

Sheeran’s lawyer, Ilene Farkas told jurors in court that the similarities in both songs’ chord progressions were nothing more than "the letters of the alphabet of music."

The singer's latest album - (Subtract), which dropped today, can be streamed below.