A defendant accused of attacking a man who went to remonstrate with the landlord of a village pub has been unanimously acquitted.
Michael Guidry, 40, was accused of wounding Warren McBride at The Wheatsheaf pub, in The Green, Braunston, near Daventry, at about 10pm on November 19 last year. Mr Guidry, of Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, denied he was involved in any fighting outside the pub.
It was alleged Mr McBride was blinded with pepper spray before being hit over the head with a wooden club.
James Bide-Thomas, prosecuting at Northampton Crown Court, said: “That evening, the defendant went to The Wheatsheaf in Braunston with three friends. He went there because the landlord, Glen Thompson, had been in a relationship with Mr McBride’s sister and there were rumours the landlord had hit her.
“Mr McBride went there to, in effect, have it out with the landlord. When he got there, he went to the pub to speak to Mr Thompson and did so at the door of the pub.
“It is the Crown’s case this defendant, who is a friend of the landlord and was staying there at the time, tried to usher out Mr McBride and produced a pepper spray which he sprayed in his face and then hit him over the head with a wooden club or pole.”
However, a jury took just over an hour to return a unanimous not guilty verdict following a two-day trial.