A MAN will face trial for an assault for a fourth time, appeal judges have ruled.
Kevin Scorah, 29, was jailed for eight years for allegedly attacking a man in Ellesmere Port and leaving him with a fractured skull and jawbone.
A Chester Crown Court jury convicted him of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent after finding he was one of four men who attacked Stephen Pollard in Station Avenue on March 25, 2005.
Two previous trial hearings had been aborted before he was convicted at a third trial in August 2007.
But now Scorah, of Helston Close, Runcorn, and formerly of Ellesmere Port, has had this "unsafe" conviction overturned on appeal.
Judges Lord Justice Richards, Mr Justice Silber and Sir Christopher Holland, sitting at London's Criminal Appeal Court, said they found that his trial had been unfair.
The court had heard that, at about 10.30pm on the night of the attack, Mr Pollard and his partner, Karen Drummond, were returning home to Station Avenue, Little Sutton, after visiting the nearby Ellesmere Arms pub.
Mr Pollard sustained a skull fracture after being hit across the head with a wooden post, and then being kicked and stamped on as he lay helpless on the ground.
He was admitted to intensive care and, months after, was said to be suffering from double vision and loss of balance, taste and smell.
But Scorah has always denied being one of the four attackers.
Now the Appeal Court judges have ruled that vital witness evidence put before the jury at his trial had been mere "hearsay" and should not have been admitted. They also said there were errors in the judge's summing-up of the case.
The judges quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial, to be held at a future date.
