A MAN who drove his car at people outside a bar in Chepstow has been cleared of four counts of attempting to commit grievous bodily harm with intent.

Lewis Scanlon, of Tree Tops, Portskewett, pleaded not guilty to the charges, arising out of an incident outside the Mythos bar in the town's Welsh Street, on April 7 last year.

And a jury at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court delivered not guilty verdicts after a three-day trial.

But Scanlon, 32, has been handed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, having pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.

He has also been disqualified from driving for 15 months, and must also complete 200 hours' unpaid work, for the above offence and for a public order offence, to which he also pleaded guilty.

CCTV footage showed Scanlon's Mercedes Benz veering across the road towards a group of people outside Mythos.

It mounted the pavement and hit a man before swerving back onto the road and away.

The prosecution case was that Scanlon used the car as a weapon, driving at the group in an act of revenge after a melee in the club, following which he had been ejected.

Scanlon told police his driving was a “scare manoeuvre that went slightly wrong”.

He told the jury he intended to frighten those on the pavement, some of whom had been involved in the melee inside Mythos.

Some of that group had also traded verbal abuse with Scanlon, his girlfriend Lauren Jones, and his brother Billy, as they returned to his car. He admitted he had "lost the plot", but insisted he had not intended to harm anyone.

One man, Alyn Howells, was knocked over by Scanlon's car, had difficulty walking for two weeks, and needed to use crutches.

Sentencing Scanlon the judge, Recorder Christopher Felstead, told him: "This was, plainly, a very dangerous thing to do. It is only by luck that people were not far more seriously injured."

Billy Scanlon, 28, also of Tree Tops, Portskewett, and Lauren Jones, 28, of Mount Pleasant Road, Cwmbran, each received a 12-month community order, having pleaded guilty to a public order offence linked to the melee in the bar. Billy Scanlon must complete 80 hours' unpaid work, and Jones 50 hours.