A MAN has been found guilty of threatening his girlfriend to prevent her from telling police about an alleged assault that followed an argument in a pub.

A MAN has been found guilty of threatening his girlfriend to prevent her from telling police about an alleged assault that followed an argument in a pub.

John Walker, of Orchard End, Grundisburgh, was convicted of warning Rachel Dickings, his then girlfriend, not to tell police what she saw after he allegedly caused actual bodily harm to Andrew Jackson on June 6 last year.

A jury found Walker, 32, guilty of intimidating a witness by a majority of 10 to 2 during the trial at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday (Friday).

Walker now faces a retrial on the count of actual bodily harm against Mr Jackson after the jury could not reach a verdict on whether he attacked him after an argument in The Dog pub in Grundisburgh, despite deliberating for almost four hours.

The jury unanimously found Walker not guilty on a third charge of intimidating Mr Jackson with death threats in May this year.

Walker denied all three counts during the trial and during interviews had told police that on the night of the alleged attack he left the pub at about 11.15pm.

During the trial, Mr Jackson told the court that there had been an "altercation" between his wife, Dominique, and Miss Dickings over abusive text messages and he and Walker had got involved in the dispute.

Walker is alleged to have emerged from some bushes and hit Mr Jackson in the side of the head and the kidneys after he left the pub to pay a baby sitter.

The jury retired three times and deliberated for a total of three hours and 58 minutes but could not reach a majority verdict on whether Walker was guilty of actual bodily harm.

Earlier, Miss Dickings had told the court she was warned by Walker not to tell the police about what she saw.

She said: "He threatened to turn up at my work and come to get me and said that when he next saw me it wouldn't be so funny and I would not want to see what he would do to me."

Judge Peter de Mille discharged the jury from making a decision on the count of actual bodily harm and granted prosecutor Kevin Clarke until Wednesday to decide whether the Crown would ask for a retrial.

"The prosecution has a decision to make," he said.

Judge de Mille told Walker that given the serious nature of the threats made against Miss Dickings he would be remanded in custody until Wednesday's hearing.