A 42 year-old Beckton man has been cleared of murder.
Alan Didier, of Renfrew Close, was alleged to have taken part in a savage attack in Clacton, in the early hours of New Year’s Day when carpenter Oliver Smith-Daye, 29, was punched, stamped on and assaulted with a golf club.
The jury at Chelmsford Crown Court had heard the attack happened after the victim returned to a party to collect his car keys and was accused by the next door neighbour of waking her children.
A post mortem revealed he sustained 32 external injuries, mainly busing and grazing. Internally he suffered bleeding on the brain.
Mr Didier was acquitted of murder. A man aged 23 was convicted of murder and a woman, aged 21, was found guilty of manslaughter. They are in custody awaiting sentence.
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