A trucker has been cleared of attacking a courting couple after they told a jury they had very little memory of the incident.
Daniel Lord claimed he was acting in self defence after a young woman flew at him 'like a mini-terminator' during the fracas in the centre of Tiverton.
The prosecution dropped the case against him after alleged victims Oliver Thom and Keira O'Kelly told the jury at Exeter Crown Court they had both been drinking for several hours before the incident.
Lord did not give evidence but his defence council suggested that serious facial cuts and bruising suffered by Mr Thom may have been cause by him falling onto the recently re-laid road surface.
The couple alleged they suffered an unprovoked attack after an exchange of words which started when they were kissing and cuddling in the street.
Neither could remember any details of the incident in which Lord claimed he defended himself after they reacted angrily to being told to 'get a room'
Lord, aged 34, of Knightswood, Cullompton, denied causing actual bodily harm to Mr Thom and assault by battery on Miss O'Kelly in the incident on March 30 last year.
He was found not guilty by the jury on the directions of Recorder Mr Kevin de Haan, QC, after Miss Bathsheba Cassel, prosecuting, offered no evidence.
Earlier she had told the jury they were dealing with a case of "unprovoked alcohol-fuelled street violence". in Tiverton perpetrated on a young couple who were perfectly innocently making their way home.
She withdrew the case after Mr Thom and Miss O'Kelly both said they had very little recall of the incident which happened in the early hours of the morning in Chapel Street, Tiverton after they were walking home from a night out at the Tomato night spot and a friend's home.
Lord always insisted he was acting in self defence. He said Miss O'Kelly attacked him and described her in his police interview as 'behaving like a mini terminator'
