A GYM owner has been cleared of attacking a plasterer after he failed to turn up for work at his Blackburn gym.

Simon Jones, 28, was found not guilty of assault causing actual bodily harm after a two-day trial at Burnley Crown Court.

The defendant, of Lee Street, Barrowford, who was also head of security at a Blackburn nightclub, had denied the charge.

He told the jury he had not been to the house and did not assault alleged victim Russell McConchie.

Mr McConchie, who had been doing plastering work on Jones' Blackburn gym, had told the jury he was hit between 10 and 15 times with a metal cosh after Jones turned up at his house.

He claimed Jones threatened to 'send the boys round' if he was late for work and said his home would be burned down.

Jones told the court Mr McConchie was making up the allegation to get back at him because he had an affair with Mr McConchie's girlfriend.

His barrister Martin Hackett said Jones and Angela Crabtree had slept together three times.

Mr McConchie said it was the first he had heard of it.