A COUNCIL worker accused of spanking two female work colleagues spoke of his relief after he was acquitted of the offence.

Family and friends in the public gallery of Bournemouth Magistrates' Court cheered yesterday after Stephen Michael Mounce, 43, was found not guilty of indecently assaulting the women on separate occasions last year.

Mr Mounce of Isle Road, Portland, who works for Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, had always denied the charge.

After chairman of the bench Peter Viney delivered the verdict a relieved Mr Mounce said: "The verdict speaks for itself."

Earlier the court heard that on the day the first alleged incident occurred in May last year father of two Mr Mounce had been recovering from a vasectomy.

He had only just returned to work in the council's customer care department after the operation when it was alleged he grabbed the first complainant, pulling her over his knee and smacking her on the bottom three times.

But Mr Mounce told the court that at the time he was in great pain and was finding it hard to sit down let alone grab and spank the woman.

Under cross-examination by Tracey Dales for the prosecution he said: "At the time I was walking like John Wayne. I was walking gingerly all that day."

When asked if he had spanked the first complainant he replied: "No I did not, I am 100 per cent certain of that."

Mr Mounce admitted visiting the home of the second complainant where the other alleged incident had taken place. But again denied spanking her.

He had given her a lift home from work and she invited him in to see a new jetski her partner had bought, which was stored in the garage.

"I walked around the jetski and in the corner of the room was a very large table with four old dining room chairs. I asked the question why have you got a dining table and chairs in the garage. She replied that she wanted someone to take them to the tip, or if I was interested I could have them."

He said he was possibly interested in them and had got one of the chairs down to test how comfortable it was.

It was alleged at an earlier hearing that Mr Mounce had grabbed the complainant at that point and smacked her, and although he admitted he had joked about spanking her he did not carry out the act.

"The chair did not feel good to touch so I sat down on it and joked perhaps I could give you that smacked bottom now - we had joked about it in the office.

"She contorted her face in a strange manner and said something about being uncomfortable with what I had said.

"I realised that I had made her uncomfortable, so I stood up and replaced the chair and we went back inside."

Mr Mounce said the first time he heard about the alleged spanking was when he was called into his manager's office a couple of weeks later.

Lynda, Mr Mounce's wife of 20 years, told the court that she had been shocked by the allegations, but added that she could not believe he had carried out the indecent assaults.

In mitigation, Mark Sullivan said that it was up to magistrates to decide if his client had spanked the two women and if it could be considered as indecent assault.

Mr Viney, chairman of the bench said: "The case is not proved beyond reasonable doubt. Therefore we dismiss this case."