AN ANTIQUARIAN map dealer told a court that Shaftesbury was prejudiced against him.

Unfounded rumours that he was a homosexual and involved in the drug scene circulated in the town, a court heard.

Son of the town's livestock auctioneer family, James Jeffrey, 35, denied biting off a man's finger during a brawl at The Ship Inn.

He told Dorchester Crown Court he had been showing a dress designer friend photos of his motorbikes and of himself with an AK 47 in the pub.

The landlord had asked him to leave because he was banned, then he was attacked by Matthew Russell, he said.

"I couldn't breathe because he was on top of me,"he said.

"He had headbutted my nose - I almost felt that I was drowning in blood."

The court had earlier heard how Mr Russell had lost the tip of his finger in the punch-up.

Mr Jeffrey of Grosvenor Road, Shaftesbury, said the townspeople had been prejudiced against him for well over a decade, spreading unfounded rumours of homosexuality and drug taking.

"I find that pretty shabby considering I have spent little time here and even shabbier, considering my family has given service to the town since 1964," he said.

The jury - earlier directed to find him not guilty of causing racially aggravated harassment - acquitted him of two counts of causing grievous bodily harm.