A FORMER Greatham parish councillor accused of assault was cleared of all charges last Wednesday.

Don Jerrard, 65, a Liphook parish councillor and former UKIP Parliamentary candidate, denied putting David Harvey, 32, into a headlock when he turned up at Mr Jerrard’s Greatham home to serve him a court bill.

District Judge Barbara Barnes noted that a long-standing feud between the accused and the defendant’s father complicated the case, and cleared Mr Jerrard at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court.

On August 11 last year, Mr Harvey, son of local solicitor Mark Harvey, was acting as a process server and was thought to be delivering court papers regarding an order for costs against Mr Jerrard.

After the acquittal, Mr Jerrard said that he was confident throughout as he thought there was “not the slightest possibility” he would be found guilty.

Having been cleared, he said he would now stand as Hampshire’s police and crime commissioner - a post currently held by Simon Hayes - as he did in 2012, and that the experience had made him “all the more determined” to succeed.

“I will now stand next year as police and crime commissioner,” he said.

“The campaign against Mr Hayes will be extremely hard fought.”

It understood that the judge said she was not convinced that Mr Harvey was a credible witness and ruled that Mr Jerrard was not guilty.

Although for him, Mr Jerrard felt the accusation was “irritating”, he said for his wife the situation had been “absolutely horrible”.