Emmerdale star Mark Jordon, 54, is found not guilty of attacking 68-year-old pensioner

Mark Jordon arrives at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court this morning with actress Laura Norton

Emmerdale actor Mark Jordon was today cleared of assaulting a pensioner who he bit on the face during a row in a pub beer garden, causing his co-star fiancée to burst into tears from the public gallery.

Jordon, who plays Daz Spencer in the ITV soap, was also found not guilty of affray and unlawfully wounding at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester this afternoon. 

The 54-year-old actor had claimed he bit Andrew Potts, 68, in self defence when the pensioner attacked him following an altercation outside the Farrars Arms in Oldham on July 1 last year.

He denied pushing Mr Potts’s partner Rosalind O’Neill to the floor and said CCTV footage from the beer garden showed him trying to grab Mr Potts’s phone, not trying to be violent.

Jordon’s girlfriend Laura Norton, who plays Kerry Wyatt in the soap, was seen crying in the court as the verdicts were delivered.

The trial heard the row started in the beer garden, where Jordon was celebrating his engagement to Miss Norton.

The jury was told tensions flared when comments were made by Mr Potts and Mrs O’Neill about Jordon’s daughter Poppy, 18.

Jordon claimed Mr Potts had called the teenager a ‘sl*g’ and said he had video of her which he would post on YouTube. 

The 54-year-old actor had claimed he bit Andrew Potts, 68, in self defence when the pensioner attacked him following an altercation outside the Farrars Arms in Oldham on July 1 last year

The 54-year-old actor had claimed he bit Andrew Potts, 68, in self defence when the pensioner attacked him following an altercation outside the Farrars Arms in Oldham on July 1 last year 

Mr Potts denied that but told the court he had told Jordon he would not let his daughter behave like that in front of him.

Mr Potts told the court Jordon screamed: ‘I’ll f****** kill you, you old bastard.’

CCTV footage showed him having to be held back from Mr Potts, who threw some punches at him.

The former Heartbeat actor said one of the punches caused his nose to bleed, however Mr Potts said he did not hit his nose and alleged he had been taking cocaine, which the actor denied.

The court heard Mr Potts and his partner left the pub and walked down the road, but were later confronted by Jordon who got out of a taxi.

Mark Jordon

Andy Potts

Giving evidence, Jordon (left) said Mr Potts (right), who had punched him in the nose during the row outside the Farrars Arms, kicked him in the groin and they both fell in the road

Mr Potts told the jury: ‘He then came towards me and he was still screaming and shouting and his face was… it was just horrendous, he was growling like a mad dog.’ 

The court heard Jordon bit the pensioner’s thumb and the palm of his hand and the pair of them fell to the ground, where Jordon bit his eyebrow.

Jordon, of Dobcross, Oldham, told the jury he bit Mr Potts in self defence.

He said: ‘It was not planned, regretful and in the moment. It was pure instinct.’

Co-stars including Nick Miles, who plays Jimmy King, Sammy Winward, who played Katie Sugden, and Chris Chittell, who is the longest serving character in the soap as Eric Pollard, have appeared in court to support Jordon.

Jordon denied pushing Mr Potts's partner Rosalind O'Neill to the floor and said CCTV footage from the beer garden showed him trying to grab Mr Potts's phone, not trying to be violent

Jordon denied pushing Mr Potts’s partner Rosalind O’Neill to the floor and said CCTV footage from the beer garden showed him trying to grab Mr Potts’s phone, not trying to be violent 

Speaking after today’s hearing, Jordon said: ‘I really am grateful to the jury for proving my innocence and especially for proving the innocence of my loved ones, who’ve had to endure this awful ordeal with me this last year.

‘I’m looking forward to getting back to our engagement and my career which has been on hold.

‘I just want to thank our families, our friends, our work colleagues and especially the members of the public, who have just been delightful and supportive.

‘Thank you very much, but for the moment I need to go home and start getting back to what we started just before this incident.’

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