Violence erupted between two neighbours after a 20-year feud over a parking space outside their homes.

William French, 69, and his 61-year-old neighbour Christopher Overton accused each other of landing the first punch as they rowed about the disputed bay outside their homes in Forest Row.

Mr French was alleged to have knocked on Mr Overton's front door and demanded: "Get your car off my land."

Mr Overton claimed Mr French punched him and then "pranced in the road like a marionette".

The brawl led to Mr French appearing in the dock at Lewes Crown Court accused of causing Mr Overton actual bodily harm.

He was also charged with common assault on a police officer he was accused of headbutting during a struggle as he was arrested.

It resulted in the officer using Captor spray on the pensioner, the court heard.

But after little more than an hour, the jury returned with unanimous verdicts and cleared Mr French of both charges.

During the two-day trial the jury heard there had been a long history of bad feeling over the parking space outside their homes in Gilham View, Lewes Road.

Mr Overton, 61, maintained it was council-owned for visitors but French claimed it belonged to him.

The argument in November last year started when Mr French returned home to find a car parked in the space.

When he found out it belonged to his neighbour, Mr Overton said, he demanded it be moved.

Mr Overton told the court: "I told him I wouldn't move it. There are three houses in Gilham View and there are four parking spots.

"One is for visitors and I parked my car in that spot. He told me to get my car off his land."

Mr Overton said he told Mr French, who is known as Barry, to get the paperwork to prove it and the two men agreed to go outside to sort things out. But, he said, as they waited to cross the road, French punched him in the face.

Mr Overton said: "I had done no provoking at all. I said, 'Well that was clever, wasn't it?'. At that instant I was bleeding profusely.

"Mr French was prancing around in the road like a marionette."

Mr Overton told the court he and his neighbour had also argued about a boundary hedge. But he denied ever punching Mr French or smashing his neighbour's windows.

He said: "We have had more than one disagreement about the hedge but not fisticuffs."

Mr French told the jury he was the one who was hit first and he lashed out and struck a blow on Mr Overton, which unluckily made him bleed.

He said he had been let down by the police over the years. He said he had been the victim of criminal damage on his property seven times and had received a "bad beating."

He told of the day of the incident which led to the hearing, telling the jury: "He said, 'You are ****ing mad'. I said something like, 'You need your brains tested'.

"He threw a punch at me, which grazed my cheek. I am not a coward but I was a bit scared as I had taken a beating in the past.

"I threw a punch back wildly. I was trying to defend myself from him and get away as quickly as I could. I just hit and ran. It was unfortunate I caught him with a freak punch."

He denied he had deliberately headbutted the police officer, saying their heads clashed during a scuffle as the officer tried to handcuff him, causing great pain.

Mr French said he suffered from osteoporosis and it was impossible for him to put his hands behind his back.

He said: "The blood was running down my face. He got this spraycan and sprayed my eyes. I was blinded. It was totally unnecessary to cuff me."

Mr French walked free from the court after the hearing. He had told the jury during his evidence: "It was an embarrassing and degrading situation. It was just a mess."