by Julia Roberts

A former Mastermind contestant has been cleared of racially abusing a German neighbour and trying to throttle him in a row over a parking.

Faversham postman John Burke, who has also appeared on University Challenge, was alleged to have lost his temper after Uwe Cordes asked Mr Burke's wife to move their car from blocking their garage in Ospringe Road, Faversham.

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court was told Mr Burke, 51, called his next-door neighbour a "German piece of s***" and his wife a "German idiot" on September 11 last year.

Giving evidence at Mr Burke's trial this week Mr Cordes said that Mr Burke jumped at him while hurling abuse and grabbed him by the throat. He also claimed that Mr Burke threatened to burn his house down.

Mr Burke denied racially aggravated assault by beating and racially aggravated fear or provocation of violence and was found not guilty of both charges.

He was also cleared of alternative offences of assault by beating and using abusive, threatening or violent behaviour to cause Mr Cordes to believe unlawful violence would be used against him.

Mr Burke, now of Vicarage Road, Faversham, told the court he referred to Mr and Mrs Cordes as "crazy people" but maintained he did not use the word "German" or behave in a threatening way.

"If I made contact with him, it was purely to fend him away because he had a lump of concrete," he explained.

Mr Burke reached the semi-final of Mastermind in 1993 with his specialist subject in German armoured fighting vehicles 1939-45.

He captained an open university team to victory on University Challenge in 1999 and has also written a book on Davington Priory, the Faversham home of Sir Bob Geldof.

Mr Burke told the court he had been to Germany 50 or 60 times and liked the country and its culture. He had no animosity towards Germany or its people, he added.

The court heard that Mr Burke has since sold his home in Ospringe Road, the proceeds from which were used to fund his defence.

At the end of the trial he was awarded costs from central funds.