A businessman who was found guilty of assaulting a woman near his home in Brompton-on-Swale has had his name cleared.
Richard Brookes, 48, won his case at York Crown Court on Friday following an appeal against conviction.
The Brompton businessman launched his appeal after York magistrates found him guilty of assault following a trial in April last year.
Mr Brookes had denied the allegation, insisting he had used reasonable force in defence of his wife.
The prosecution in the trial alleged that Mr Brookes had assaulted the woman as he intervened during an altercation between her and his wife on Gatherley Road in September 2024.
CCTV of the incident, which was played at the trial, showed the two women arguing in the country lane.
The woman then pushed Mr Brookes’s wife to the ground as he came running over to where they were grappling.
The prosecution alleged that Mr Brookes then assaulted the woman, causing reddening to her shoulder and neck.
In May last year, Mr Brookes, of Gatherley Road, was fined £1,673 for the alleged assault and ordered to pay £620 prosecution costs, along with a £699 statutory surcharge.
However, Judge Mr Hickey upheld Mr Brookes’s appeal at the hearing on Friday, ruling that he had used reasonable force to defend his wife.
