A FIVE-A-SIDE soccer player who punched an opponent leaving him with brain damage walked free from court.

A jury at Teesside Crown Court took less than an hour to clear Andrew Walker, 22, after other players said that victim Darren Mitchell, 32, earlier repeatedly punched a man he was marking.

Mr Walker said that he struck Mr Mitchell to end his attack on 'defenceless' Shaun Lyons, but Mr Mitchell catapulted backwards into a wall causing a base of skull fracture.

He was in hospital for 13 days after the incident during a league match at Saltburn Leisure Centre between his pub side The Clarendon, Marske, and North East Tyres and Exhausts, where Mr Walker was a supervisor.

Fred Nath, a consultant neurosurgeon at The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, said Mr Mitchell sustained a severe brain injury and required an emergency operation.

He was left with scarring at the top of his forehead and suffered deafness.

Tim Capstick, in mitigation, said Mr Walker told police: "It was an accident. If he hadn't banged his head he would probably have got up and had a go at me."

Mr Walker, of Foster Street, Brotton, said during his three-day trial that he was horrified when he saw Mr Mitchell, a telecommunications engineer, lying unconscious.

Father-of-two Mr Walker said: "Shaun was down on one knee defenceless and Mr Mitchell was behind him. I saw about five or six blows land on him. I pulled Mr Mitchell to one side by his shoulder, told him 'get off him' and I just punched him. He landed on the floor on his backside but he catapulted back into the wall.

He added: "It was the only way to stop the assault on Shaun because he was defenceless. It just happened , I was not thinking."

Shaun Lyons said that he was punched about half-a-dozen times on the back of his head by Mr Mitchell, of Arthur Street, New Marske. He said: "Afterwards I had a pain in my jaw and a lump on my head. When I looked around he was on the floor, although I did not see how he got there."

Mr Walker was found not guilty of causing Mr Mitchell grievous bodily harm on May 13 last year