A 24-YEAR-OLD man has been cleared of petrol bombing an Accrington nightclub after allegedly threatening to burn it down.

David Poulton was found not guilty of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered by a Burnley Crown Court jury, on the direction of Judge Barbara Watson.

Poulton, then of Richmond Avenue, Accrington, and now of Coalclough Lane, Burnley, had denied the allegation and was discharged from the dock.

The court had heard the defendant and another man had been asked to leave Eclipse, the former Lars de Dars, Willow Street, after a row over the supply of cigarettes over the bar.

They were said to have exchanged angry words with two bouncers. One of the two men were alleged to have said he would be down at the club with a machine gun and Poulton threatened the premises would be burned down within 10 minutes. The duo were then accused of returning to the club and throwing a petrol bomb into the foyer.

When the defendant was later arrested, he told officers he had been to a party and stayed there several hours.