A RUGBY fan has been cleared of attacking his ex girlfriend during a night out after watching an Exeter Chiefs game.

John Jackson was found not guilty of hitting Jade Stevenson with a glass at the Bar Seven night club in Newton Abbot after saying an injury to her eye was an accident.

He told Exeter Crown Court he had dropped the plastic glass rather than thrown it during an argument outside the toilets in the club.

He had no idea how she came to have an injury to her eye which bled profusely and stained her white clothing. She took a picture of the cut and posted it on Facebook the next day.

Jackson had spent the day watching the Chiefs junior team beating Leinster in August last year and went to the club with friends and his new girlfriend.

The prosecution claimed he lost his temper during an argument and threw the polycarbon glass so hard that the impact knocked Miss Stevenson off her feet.

He said she had attacked him, slapping him and scratching his neck but he had not retaliated and thought the glass may have bounced off the floor and hit her eye.

Jackson, aged 23, of Barton Drive, Newton Abbot, denied assault causing actual bodily harm and was found not guilty by the jury.

Judge Peter Johnson imposed a restraining order banning him from any further contact with Miss Stevenson, who now lives in Teignmouth.

He said the order was justified by his behaviour on the night, a previous conviction for battery, and two for criminal damage against her property.

Jackson told the jury he had been in a relationship for about a year which continued on an on-off basis after they broke up.

He said he had done everything for her when they were together, buying her expensive gifts and helping her buy a car. He said she had been winding him up on the night of the incident because she saw him with his new girlfriend.