A PSYCHOTHERAPIST walked free from Chester Crown Court this week after being found not guilty on charges of assault and false imprisonment.

The jury took less than two hours to return their verdict and Michael Clancy punched the air as it was read out by the foreman.

Outside court 34-year-old Clancy, from Cambrian Court, Chester, celebrated with his family exclaiming: 'It's over, it's over.'

He had been accused of throwing Arina James, his lover of 15 months, into the canal near Telford's Warehouse on Tower Wharf after a night out on September 17 last year.

Mrs James, Russian by birth but living in Bunbury, gave her evidence over the course of a day-and-a-half behind a screen and with the help of an interpreter.

She had explained how a man described by character witnesses as 'kind, compassionate and caring' had threatened rape, slapped her, dragged her back to his nearby flat in Cambrian Court and held her there against her will into the early hours of the next morning.

Clancy's ex-partner Keira Allen, who had a seven year relationship with him, told the court she had seen the couple walking side-by-side towards Cambrian Court when being driven home by her boyfriend.

A tearful Ms Allen added that Clancy had never been violent in their relationship: 'He's a lovely man who should not be in court. I can't bear to see him over there (in the dock).'

Clancy had admitted in court on Monday that he had ripped a belt and jewellery from Mrs James and thrown them in the canal.

He also conceded that he had taken her wedding ring when she was in his flat and at first had lied to police about its whereabouts when asked by them to hand it back.

He said: 'I was stupid and stubborn. I am very sorry for what I did. I did cross a physical boundary when I took her jewellery. I just wanted her to tell her husband.'

Clancy also admitted smashing up his flat because of his 'frustration' at Mrs James's unwillingness to tell husband Brian James about their affair.

But he denied that he had thrown her in the canal claiming instead that she had fallen in and that he had pulled her straight out.

Simon Mills, defending, told the jury: 'There is one simple theme through the defence's case - you simply cannot trust the account of Arina James to the extent you would need before you could be sure of the defendant's guilt.

'Yes, my client behaved in a fashion that he obviously bitterly regrets, he did behave in a way that was out of character but did not behave in the manner Mrs James has claimed.'

Mr Mills drew the jury's attention to parts of Mrs James's evidence which included a statement made to police not long before the trial in which she claimed Clancy had hypnotised her into having a relationship with him.

tom.sieber@cheshirenews.co.uk