A WORCESTER man accused of a revenge attack on his mother's ex-boyfriend has been cleared at Worcester Crown Court.

It was alleged that Matthew Linsey hit Anthony Meredith with a bat or a piece of wood as he walked home from a pub.

Mr Meredith, aged 35, of Rodborough Drive, Warndon, suffered fractures to his ribs and his damaged spleen was removed in an operation.

At the end of the prosecution, defence counsel Adam Western submitted that the case could not be proved because Mr Meredith never saw his attacker.

Deputy Judge Thomas Dillon QC ruled there was insufficient evidence for a conviction and directed the jury to find the defendant not guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Prosecutor Guy Spollon had claimed that Mr Linsey, 23, of Rodborough Close, Worcester, had a motive because Mr Meredith had vandalised his mother's car after their year-long relationship broke down.

But he agreed that the evidence against Mr Linsey, a man of good character, was only circumstantial.

Mr Meredith confessed in evidence that he was prosecuted for criminal damage to Mrs Jane Linsey's Peugeot in a magistrates' court.

On Saturday, August 11 last year, he and Mrs Linsey had an argument in a pub before he left to go home.

He claimed he was attacked from behind by two people and one person had renewed the assault as he neared his front door. He had no idea if his assailants were men or women.

A married woman told the jury that a 14-year-old boy confessed to her that he had hit a man with a bat.

Mrs Rebecca Price, who had returned home by taxi after a night out with friends, claimed she saw Mr Linsey carrying a bat or a piece of wood near the victim's home.

She further claimed that Mr Linsey - the man she picked out on a police identity parade - had asked the 14-year-old to do him a favour and get the bat.

She said the teenager admitted he had attacked Mr Meredith but then changed his story and said he had only trashed his garden.

Questioned by the prosecutor in court, the youth refused to talk about the incident. "I've done too many things in my time," he said.

Mr Western maintained that the 14-year-old had been "cocky and big-headed" about his alleged bat attack. He also had convictions for violence.

The victim was in hospital for eight days and needs antibiotics for the rest of his life.