A NORTH-EAST man who was convicted of killing his partner in a jealous rage was a free man last night after judges cleared him on appeal.

John Bickford, 61, of Simpson Road, West Auckland, County Durham, was accused of subjecting 48-year-old mother-of-three Carol Chambers to a campaign of domestic violence before her death on July 28, last year.

She was found unconscious at the home they shared and died after suffering a brain haemorrhage.

Mr Bickford, who prosecutors said believed Miss Chambers had formed a relationship with another man while on holiday in Australia, was convicted of her manslaughter at Teesside Crown Court in February and jailed for eight years.

He was freed on bail last week pending the appeal hearing.

And yesterday, Lord Justice Hooper, Mr Justice Davis and Judge Andrew Patience, sitting at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, overturned the conviction after ruling that his trial had been unfair.

The court heard that both Mr Bickford and Miss Chambers were alcoholics.

The case against Mr Bickford hinged on evidence that Miss Chambers said prior to her death that he had “clouted her the other night” in the head, on the same spot where she felt the pain of the brain haemorrhage on the morning she was taken to hospital.

The Crown’s case was that he had hit her that morning, causing her to fall and strike her head.

Lawyers for Mr Bickford argued at the Appeal Court that “bad character evidence”

which was put before the jury – in the form of pictures, which prosecutors said showed “graphic injuries” she had suffered at his hands during an incident of domestic violence – had prejudiced his trial.

The judges agreed, allowing the appeal and freeing Mr Bickford. They declined to order a retrial, despite protestations by the prosecution that they should do so.

Making the decision, Lord Justice Hooper said that the case against Mr Bickford was not strong enough for it to go before a jury a second time.

“What is missing from the evidence is the deceased saying that she had fallen. The subdural haemorrhage could only have been caused by such a fall,” the judge said.

“The jury had to be sure that the appellant hit her in such circumstances that it would have been manslaughter.

The deceased was herself an alcoholic and, as an alcoholic, from time to time she fell and hurt herself quite badly.

“In all the circumstances we take the view that it is not in the interests of justice to order a retrial,” the judge concluded.

Mrs Chambers’ sister, Ellen Dixon, said last night: “We are all shocked. We can’t believe they could have reached this decision without hearing the evidence again.

“If there was something wrong with the first trial, will be ever know the truth?”