A COMPANY director and his son have been warned they could face jail after being convicted of a charge of affray.

Stephen James Palmer, 44, and his son Jacob Charlton, 20, faced charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and affray relating to an altercation with a doorman in the early hours of November 26, 2010.

They stood trial at Dorchester Crown Court along with another man, 20-year-old Robin Brown.

Palmer and Charlton, of Greenhill, Weymouth, were found guilty of the affray charge and not guilty of the assault occasioning actual bodily harm charge.

Mr Brown, of Parkmead Road, Weymouth, was cleared of both charges.

The three men were accused of assaulting a doorman from the Dorothy Inn in New Street at the rear of the premises on the night they celebrated Charlton’s 18th birthday.

During the trial Palmer claimed he had reacted after he thought the doorman was going to attack him and Charlton claimed he had stepped in to try and protect his father.

Mr Brown claimed he had not been involved in the incident and the accusations against him were a case of mistaken identity.

Palmer also faced two separate charges of common assault relating to an incident in Aura nightclub that same evening.

He was found not guilty of one of the charges but convicted of another, which related to an assault on an off-duty manager at the venue.

After a five-day trial it took the jury of nine men and three women more than three hours to reach their verdicts.

Palmer and his son were released on bail and will return to court to be sentenced on April 19.

Judge Roger Jarvis told the defendants: “The jury have convicted you of a serious matter Mr Charlton and you, Mr Palmer, of two serious matters and you must be prepared to lose your liberty.

“But before I make up my mind I want to know more about you so I’m going to require the preparation of a pre-sentence report.”