A 24-year-old has been found not guilty of attacking a man with a metal bar during an alleged late-night assault in an Ipswich playground.

An Ipswich Crown Court jury acquitted Luke Plant, of Burlington Road, Ipswich, following a trial.

Mr Plant had been accused of assaulting Krzysztof Janowski and causing him actual bodily harm during an incident in Chesterton Close on February 13 last year.

The court had heard Mr Janowski had been taking a shortcut along a footpath in the playground shortly after midnight while on his way to visit a friend when he felt a kick to his knee.

Giving evidence Mr Janowski said the blow caused him to fall to the ground in pain.

Fearing he was going to be hit over the head by his attacker, who was holding a small weightlifting bar, Mr Janowski put his arms up and managed to grab the bar and throw it away.

He claimed he was then punched two or three times to the head and suffered a cut under his eye.

After the alleged attack he went to his car and used his T-shirt to wipe the blood from his face.

He said his knee and arm were swollen as a result of the alleged attack.

Mr Janowski told the court that three weeks before the attack on February 13, a man had allegedly approached him in the Cambridge Drive area and, after pushing him in the chest, had told him to stay away from his (Mr Janowski’s) former girlfriend.

Giving evidence, Plant denied being the person who attacked Mr Janowski and said he did not know Mr Janowski or his ex-girlfriend.