A care assistant for the elderly has been cleared of punching a builder in the face at a Kidderminster nightclub.

Pamela Robinson challenged Mark Chance about his behaviour after claiming he jeered at her group which included his ex-wife Dawn.

He swore at her and she put up her arm fearing he was going to hit her, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Mr Chance, who had drunk six pints of lager that night, claimed she punched him in the face, chipping a tooth and bruising his cheek.

Miss Robinson, aged 47, of Sutton Road, Kidderminster, was found not guilty of assault causing actual bodily harm. The jury retired for less than an hour.

The incident happened on November 3 last year when the defendant's group of women went out for the night. She only drank orange juice because she was driving and was due in at work the next day.

She said they were on the dance floor in Redwoods when she saw Mr Chance and two friends standing at the bar. She alleged he called them "slags and tarts" and she decided to ask him what his problem was.

Miss Robinson denied striking any blow and said a friend of Mr Chance's stepped between them before she returned to her group.

Cross-examined by Simon Gerrish, defending, Mr Chance admitted that in January last year he was cautioned by police following an allegation that he had assaulted his wife before they divorced.

Mr Gerrish alleged that Mr Chance wanted to get the defendant into trouble because she had supported his wife through the divorce.

Miss Robinson claimed he had followed the women's group for two weeks and in another club they alerted bouncers when he began making signs at them.