Ref. 22415-02FORMER Swindon Town favourite Phil King has been acquitted of beating his estranged wife and mother-in-law.

Mr King, who made 121 appearances for Town and scored four goals, pleaded not guilty to two counts of common assault when he appeared before Swindon magistrates yesterday.

His wife, Joanne King, claimed Mr King, 36, had slammed a car door in her chest and punched her three times while her mother, Mary Kittlety, claimed he had thrown her to the floor during a row about the couple's two children, Daniel and Luke, in August last year.

The court heard that at the time Mr King and his wife were living separately, but spent half the week each with their two children. On August 13 last year Mrs King had arrived at The Dolphin Hotel in Rodbourne the pub owned by Mr King to pick the children up.

It was in the car park of the hotel a row ensued where Mrs King and her mother claimed the ex-footballer assaulted them. But magistrates believed Mr King had acted in self-defence and said claims he had struck his wife and pushed over his mother-in-law were not proven beyond all reasonable doubt.

Giving evidence Mrs King told the court the episode started when the twins wanted to get out of her car and give their dad a kiss.

"Phil came out shouting that I had to get out of his car park it looked as though he was in a very bad mood," she said claiming her husband ran across the car park, jumped a small wall and pushed her car door shut, which hit her in the chest.

The court heard that Mrs King's mother, Mary Kittlety, had come across to see what was going on and said, "You two sort yourselves out think about the children," before Mr King lent across and attempted to punch his wife on the head.

Mrs King said her mother had tried to grab Mr King's arm to pull him away, but he threw her to the ground causing her head to hit the gravel floor.

"I was really upset, obviously, it was my mum. He was shouting for the children to get back into the pub, I was just shouting for him to give me my kids," she said.

She also claimed he had threatened to "deck her" if she tried to go into the pub to get the children and admitted hitting him on the chin.

Mr King, who also played for Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday during a 13-year professional career where he was only sent off once and never cautioned for violent conduct, strenuously denied all the accusations.

He said: "This is the woman I was still in love with madly at the time it wouldn't be a good idea to hurt the woman you love.

"I was devastated the biggest thing for me is the children I just wanted to get them in the car and leave to stop them crying."

Giles Sheldrick