A deal man who was accused of assaulting his elderly next-door neighbour has spoken of his relief after being found not guilty last week.

Rex Jackson, 52, of College Road, Deal, was involved in an altercation with former Royal Marine Commando James Hogan and his son Paul in May, which resulted in all three men and Mr Jackson’s wife Michelle sustaining injuries.

Disabled Mr Jackson was charged with the Assault of Mr Hogan and another count of assaulting his son Paul Hogan. He appeared before Folkestone Magistrates on Tuesday, November 11, where three magistrates found him not guilty, ruling that, instead of being the aggressor, he had acted in self defence on both charges.

He said: “I felt elated. I did think that was going to happen any way.

“When people hear something like this, they believe it. They don’t want to know from me whether it’s true” - Rex Jackson was found not guilty of attacking 70 year-old neighbour

The couple claim people have snubbed them since news broke of the fight on Saturday, May 3. And Mr Jackson said: “At one time our house was on red alert,” because former Royal Marines assumed he was guilty of attacking Mr Hogan.

His wife said: “It has been a nightmare.”

He added: “When people hear something like this, they believe it. They don’t want to know from me whether it’s true”.

They said the fight was the result of four years of animosity between the families which started when Mr Hogan’s family claimed the Jacksons were noisy neighbours.

Mrs Jackson has kept a thick folder of correspondence from Dover District Council and Kent Police relating to the feuds. It includes information on an assault on Mr Jackson that Mr Hogan was cautioned for in 2010.

Mr Jackson said before tensions erupted in May, Mr Hogan’s son, Paul, had been ringing their bell and running away at about 2am, waking them up in the middle of the night.

When Mr Jackson retaliated and did the same at about 9pm, it resulted in what he described as the six month ordeal that followed.