One man has been found guilty of common assault and one pleaded guilty to the offence following a five-day Royal Court trial – but the jury found both men not guilty of the more serious offence of grave and criminal assault.

Kenneth Skinner (24) and Sean Downey (22) assaulted a man following The Oxford pub’s bingo night in October 2023.

The victim was left “out cold” and required hospital treatment for a head injury and a broken leg.

A five-day trial at the Royal Court this week heard that Skinner had attended the pub’s Friday bingo night but was ejected after an argument about payment.

He came back to The Oxford less than an hour later with Downey, after phoning his friend.

Witnesses described how the pair had stood in the doorway of the pub and shouted as patrons had filed outside – despite the landlord trying to stop them.

Mobile phone footage taken from a passing car showed the victim being punched to ground and kicked.

Neither of the defendants denied that that the incident happened, but Skinner said he had acted in self-defence.

Downey admitted common assault, but argued the offence wasn’t serious enough to be a grave and criminal assault.

Crown Advocate Paul Lee, prosecuting, had claimed the pair had come back to the pub “looking for a fight”, and that they had worked together in the assault.

Both had punched the victim and Skinner had kicked him, he said.

But Advocate Olaf Blakeley, defending Skinner, said there was no evidence the pair had been looking for a fight.

Instead, he said, the victim had attacked them first.

Advocate Greg Herold-Howes, defending Downey, pointed out that there was no evidence the duo had come up with “a grand plan to cause trouble during the space of a two-minute phone call”.

He said: “The prosecution want you to assume they made a criminal agreement. But assumption is not evidence.”

The jury unanimously found that both men were not guilty of grave and criminal assault.

Downey had already pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assault, and the jury unanimously found Skinner guilty of this too.

The Deputy Bailiff, Robert MacRae, was presiding.