ALLEGATIONS that a man threatened to burn his ex-girlfriend and a family friend to death have been thrown out after vital forensic evidence came to light.

Geoffrey Langley, 39, of Malpas, always maintained he only threw petrol at a house in Tushingham on September 16, not at the people within.

Charges that he threatened to kill the occupants were dismissed at Chester Crown Court on Monday after prosecutors revealed no traces of petrol were found on the witnesses' clothes by forensic scientists.

The forensic results were only revealed to Langley's barrister, Jonathan Duffy, three days before the case was due to go to trial.

Judge Christopher Morton ordered prosecutor Meirion Jones to investigate why he had not made the court and Langley's counsel aware of the breakthrough earlier.

Langley admitted a reduced charge of affray after being cleared of making threats to kill.

In a previous hearing, the court had been told Langley's girlfriend of four years ended their relationship and, after a night in the pub, he had gone to her home with a can of petrol.

His girlfriend had asked a family friend round to help her while she packed Langley's belongings but Langley barged through and began shaking the petrol can while holding a lighter in his hand, threatening to set it alight.

Langley, who has been held in custody since the incident, will return to court on March 18 to be sentenced for the affray charge.

His ex-wife, Caroline Duckers, was one of the first people to spring to his defence last autumn. Within a week of his arrest, she stepped forward to declare her former husband was a kind and caring person who always put their two children first.

Ms Duckers, of Queensway, Whitchurch, had split up from Langley seven years earlier after 15 years as his partner.

She said at the time of his arrest: 'He's been plunged into a nightmare. He can't possibly be guilty because he's not that sort of man.

'He wouldn't harm a fly. He's a caring and considerate person and an excellent father.

'This is all some ghastly mistake. He's a good and decent man. I'm certain that someone has got hold of the wrong end of the stick.'

After visiting him in prison just days after he was first held, Ms Duckers also said Langley was taking incarceration very badly and was on suicide watch.

'He's a kind and caring bloke who's found himself behind bars because of what must be a big misunderstanding,' she said.

Langley's mother, Marjorie Langley, of Smithy Lane, Malpas, was also convinced he would be acquitted as soon as all the facts were known.