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Elvis impersonator Shane Bassett leaves the building after being cleared of assaulting Mark Dann in Dartford

00:01, 28 April 2013

Elvis impersonator Shane Bassett, 23, ​of Meadows Road, Dartford, has been cleared of assault
Elvis impersonator Shane Bassett, 23, ​of Meadows Road, Dartford, has been cleared of assault

An Elvis Presley impersonator was all shook up after he was arrested for assaulting a friend.

But Shane Bassett, 23, was able to leave the building at Maidstone Crown Court when a jury cleared him of assault charges.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Mr Bassett (pictured right) was having a row with his girlfriend Lisa-Marie Whybrow when Mark Dann intervened - and ended up with a broken leg.

Mr Bassett, who has a quiff like the legendary singer and clips on YouTube, denied inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Dann and assaulting Miss Whybrow, and was acquitted of both charges.

The court heard both men had been drinking heavily when "the combination of alcohol and Mr Dann's intervention" led to violence erupting in Bullace Lane, Dartford, on April 22 last year.

Prosecutor Allister Walker said Mr Bassett, of Meadows Road, Dartford, first punched his girlfriend in the face and when Mr Dann went to her aid Bassett "abandoned all reason and restraint".

"He rounded on Mr Dann, punching him in the head and causing him to fall immediately," he added. "Either as a result of the fall or because the defendant deliberately stamped on him."

He had breaks to his right tibia and fibula and needed surgery to insert a metal plate into the leg.

Mr Bassett denied punching his girlfriend in the face or stamping on Mr Dann's leg.

Maidstone crown court
Maidstone crown court

Shane Bassett was found not guilty at Maidstone Crown Court

He said he knew Mr Dann through Miss Whybrow's job as a part-time barmaid at the Wat Tyler pub in Dartford High Street.

He had drunk two pints of lager, several Jack Daniels and coke - including double measures - and a couple of shots.

The incident happened after leaving The Clipper pub in the early hours.

Bassett told police he pushed Miss Whybrow away with the flat of his hand after she "got in his face".

She went off screaming, he said, and Mr Dann intervened saying: "You don't hit a woman". Mr Dann him in the face, he claimed.

“He kept swinging and swinging so I hit him and put him," said Mr Bassett.

Describing it as a "tit for tat" fight, Mr Bassett maintained he never stamped on Mr Dann's leg.

"I never touched his leg," he added. "I can swear on my kids' lives I never touched his legs. I only struck out to defend myself."

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