A ROYAL Shakespeare Company carpenter, who chewed a Stratford man's ear during a fight outside a nightclub, has been cleared of acting unlawfully.

Andrew Hogan, aged 33, from Cheam in Surrey, who was staying with friends in Wimpstone, near Stratford at the time of the incident, denied a charge of wounding.

After almost three hours, a jury at Warwick Crown Court found him not guilty by a unanimous verdict.

Kristina Montgomery, prosecuting, said Hogan, who was "visibly drunk and aggressive towards anyone in his way" was involved in an exchange with Adam Griffin outside Actors nightclub at the town's Moat House Hotel last September.

Richard Ryan, who had also been in the nightclub, intervened to try to calm the situation down. This lead to a scuffle between him and Hogan, during which they punched each other before being separated by doormen.

The two men were sent off in different directions, but the prosecution alleged Hogan was not prepared to let the matter go and chased Mr Ryan before striking him from behind, knocking him to the ground and then biting his ear after getting on top of him.

Hogan, who is a carpenter with the RSC in London - but was working at the theatre in Stratford at the time, said that when he left the club he was having "a conversation, not an argument" with one of a group of lads when Mr Ryan stepped between them.

" He said there was no need to fight. I said I was not interested in fighting anyone, and then he punched me." Hogan said they grappled with each other before one of the doormen grabbed him and punched him.

" We were ushered away. But we started fighting again. I don't know how it started, but he was on top of me banging my head on the gravel. I thought he was going to hit me and I moved my head and bit his ear," added Hogan, who received injuries to his face.

After the verdict, Judge John Wilson ordered that Hogan, who was granted his costs from central funds, should be bound over in the sum of £200 to be of good behaviour for 12 months.