A MAN has been cleared of a Christmas Day attack said to have put another man in hospital for three days.

Habib Subanie, 22, was found not guilty of wounding by a Burnley Crown Court jury on the direction of Recorder Micheal Leeming. The defendant, of Townley Street, Brierfield, had denied the charge.

Complainant Saleem Mohammed had told the jury he was in the Railway pub in Brierfield and had had about two pints of lager.

He said he was going to the bar when he was hit over the head with a bottle. It was a heavy blow and as he turned he saw the defendant. He claimed it was Subanie who had "bottled," him.

The alleged victim said he fell unconscious and was taken to hospital. His face was covered in blood and there was glass on the top of his head and around his ear. Mr Mohammed said he was kept in hospital for three days. He had no idea why he was attacked.

Cross-examined by Suzanne Goddard, defending, the complainant said nothing happened which could have provoked the incident. He agreed he did not see the blow land but said he had not made a mistake about his alleged attacker. Mr Mohammed claimed:" I got hit with a bottle and I know it was him."

Miss Goddard told him: "I suggest you are wrong when you say it was the defendant who struck you.

"You have made possibly a very honest mistake."