THE partner of a Leigh pub landlady who denied using a hammer to hit a customer on the head has been acquitted by a jury.

Graham Moss said that he had been told that John James Bennett had been found covered in blood lying in the middle of the road outside the Church Inn in Westleigh.

He said he went to try and lift him up but Mr Bennett swore at him so he gave him a light kick to the shoulder and left him there.

He said he had become upset when Mr Bennett threw his pint over him but said that it was one of the risks of working in a pub.

Mr Moss, aged 44, of The Church Inn, Westleigh Lane, Leigh, had been on trial at Bolton Crown Court. He denied wounding Mr Bennett with intent.

Attacked

Mr Moss said that the first he knew about Mr Bennett being attacked was when a customer entered the pub and said there was a man lying in the middle of the road.

When he went outside to help he realised it was Mr Bennett who had been abusive in the pub previously.

Earlier the court had been told that Mr Bennett had been arguing with a man in the pub over money he claimed was owed to him.

When the argument became heated Mr Moss asked Mr Bennett to leave the pub. As Mr Bennett left he threw beer over Mr Moss and then hurled his pint pot, which smashed into other glasses behind the bar.

The court was told that Mr Bennett went to the next pub, The Silver Dollar, but after picking an argument with an Irishman, he was asked to leave and later barred.

Later as he walking down the street near the pub Mr Bennett claimed that Mr Moss hit him on the head with a hammer before subjecting to him to a beating with other men.