Man Cleared Of Double Assault In His Local Pub

A pub customer, accused of attacking two drinkers after accusing one of them of looking at his wife, has been cleared of the charges.

Patrick Charles Brindle, 51, of Abbots Way, Beckenham was alleged to have elbowed one man to the jaw and punched his friend to the ground, inflicting a cut to his neck and above his eyebrow.

He pleaded not guilty to assaulting Dean Muzio, causing him actual bodily harm and assaulting Paul Wilson in the garden of the Rising Sun public house in Elmers End on April 18.

At Croydon Crown Court last week the Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence on the charges.

The victims claimed Brindle approached them angrily, elbowing one to the left side of his jaw and while holding something in his clenched fist, possibly keys, punched the second man in the face, injuring his right eye.

They claimed he then followed-up with a flurry of further punches while the victim, Mr. Muzio, was lying on the ground.

He was taken to King's College Hospital and received treatment for a deep cut to his right eyebrow and a puncture wound to his neck was sealed with medical glue.