A MOSLEY Common man who intervened in a street brawl and knocked another man out putting him in hospital for five weeks has been cleared by a jury.

Sean Hogan, aged 25, of Malton Road, "poleaxed" Carl Tonge with one massive blow after he found him and others kicking a motionless man on the ground.

Tonge's head hit the floor "with a sickening thud" and was knocked out for several minutes.

He suffered a brain injury and spent part of the five weeks hospital on a ventilator.

Hogan said he saw Tonge kicking another man on the ground in George Street in Tyldesley along with other men and that he intervened to stop the violent assault.

Hogan, who appeared at Bolton Crown Court on trial for unlawfully inflicting grievous bodily harm on Carl Tonge, was cleared on Tuesday by the jury.

The court heard that Tonge, who has now recovered from his injuries, could not remember anything about the evening of the assault or much of that week.