Man cleared of partner's killing

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A County Durham man convicted of beating his partner to death has been cleared by the Court of Appeal.

John Bickford, 61, was jailed for eight years in March after denying the manslaughter of Carol Chambers, 48.

The mother-of-three died after being found unconscious at their home in West Auckland in July last year.

Mr Bickford was freed after appeal court judges heard that "bad character evidence" put to the jury at his trial had prejudiced their verdict.

Lord Justice Hooper, sitting at the Court of Appeal in London, said the case against Mr Bickford, of Simpson Road, was not strong enough for it to go to a retrial.

'Missing evidence'

At the trial at Teesside Crown Court, prosecutors said Mr Bickford had grown jealous about his partner's relationship with a man she had met while on holiday in Australia.

The jury was told by prosecutors that he had hit Miss Chambers causing her to fall and strike her head, resulting in her suffering a brain haemorrhage.

Miss Chambers was a mother-of-three

The court also heard Miss Chambers had said her partner had "clouted her" in the head on the same spot where she had felt the pain of the brain haemorrhage.

Mr Bickford's lawyers argued at the Appeal Court that "bad character evidence" put before the jury in the form of pictures, allegedly showing injuries she had suffered at his hands during an incident of domestic violence, had prejudiced the trial.

Lord Justice Hooper said: "What is missing from the evidence is the deceased saying that she had fallen.

"The subdural haemorrhage could only have been caused by such a fall.

"The jury had to be sure that the appellant hit her in such circumstances that it would have been manslaughter.

"The deceased was herself an alcoholic and, as an alcoholic, from time to time she fell and hurt herself quite badly."