A man shed tears of relief as a jury cleared him of an assault in Weymouth last Christmas.

Serbastian Numrych had denied assaulting Umesh Patel occasioning actual bodily harm.

He told the jury at Dorchester Crown Court that he had drunk a bottle of vodka during a Christmas Eve supper and could remember nothing between making a late-night phone call to his family in Poland and waking up in a police cell on Christmas morning.

He said he was not aggressive and would only have fought in self defence.

But Mr Patel told the court he was grabbed round the neck, thrown to the ground and dragged like a rag doll up and down Walpole Street.

He said he and his friend had been drinking heavily since the previous evening but he recognised his attacker as a man who was a customer at the Mace shop where he worked.

Witnesses told police the attacker had gone into a house in Walpole Street and officers found Numrych there at the home he shared with his girlfriend and other friends.

They also found Numrych's clothes and shoes including jeans stained with Mr Patel's blood.

But Numrych, 29, now of Ranelagh Road, Weymouth, said during his trial that he could not remember being arrested and was shocked to wake up in what he realised was a police cell.

He said that he realised something must have happened but he did not know what.

He said he drank more that night than he was used to do because of the special occasion.

They had drunk vodka at supper and toasted each other and sung carols.

Tim Shorter, defending, said all three young men involved in the incident had drunk too much that night and one of them ended up injured.