A NEWPORT man was found not guilty of robbing a city off-licence yesterday.

Lewys Bowen-Jones, aged 34, of Cardiff Road, had been accused of attacking a shop keeper at the American Wines store on Commercial Street on November 6 2013, armed with a knuckle duster.

He had been accused of a count of theft, one of robbery and another of possessing an offensive weapon – but denied the charges. A jury, composed of three men and nine women, found him not guilty of all three.

Kevin Seal, defending, said when Mr Bowen-Jones was arrested, he had indicated he was happy to attend an identity parade and had co-operated with police. He said although Mr Bowen-Jones had shopped at America Wines previously, it was not him caught on the store’s CCTV.

Speaking after he was acquitted, he said: “I’m glad the jury saw the right thing. I’ve had a year on bail; my mental health has been suffering. I lost my flat over this.”

Cardiff Crown Court heard a man stole two cans of Oranjeboom lager from the shop earlier and returned later to complain about the quality of a £15 memory card he had brought from there.

On the second visit the man attacked the shop owner, Jitender Singh. He hit him across the face, searched through his trouser pockets and stole £40, twice punched a till in an effort to withdraw more money, threw a laptop across the shop and put on a knuckle duster in front of his victim. He then left and walked towards Pill.

The court heard a man who was then working at the shop identified Mr Bowen-Jones as the attacker in an identity parade. Additionally, he said a woman sat at the back of the courtroom on Wednesday was with Mr Bowen-Jones when they attended the store a few days later.

He said the woman had offered to pay for Mr Singh in instalments for damage to the shop as long as charges were dropped.

Yesterday Mr Singh was recalled to give evidence and said he had been unable to identify the man who had attacked him in an identity parade.

But Mr Singh said various men he did not know had visited his shop and given him £200 on hearing he had been robbed a few days after the incident. He did not question why they had visited but took the money anyway, he said.

An eyewitness who had walked in on the attack attended the trial on Wednesday and had also failed to pick out Mr Bowen-Jones from a line up.

The court also heard police had arrested another man who fitted the description of a suspect who had been at the nearby Lidl supermarket shortly after the attack.

They also found two cans of lager at his property but he was released later.