A Leeds man who was extradited from the US to stand trial accused of assaulting a police officer over 40 years ago has been found not guilty.
Rory McGrath, 64, was cleared of assault occasioning actual bodily harm following a trial at Leeds Crown Court where jurors were told he had allegedly punched a police officer on March 28, 1980.
The court heard how four other men were convicted in the months following the assault outside The Miners in Garforth but Mr McGrath had fled the country to Dublin before settling in New York, where he was arrested last year.
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Mr McGrath has been on remand at HMP Leeds since July last year but will now be a free man.
The prosecution said during the trial Mr McGrath had been out "celebrating" with friends at the Crusader pub after being released from police custody. Soon after, the now retired police officer, Ian Geoffrey Moore, came across a group of youths, one of which was punched close to a petrol station forecourt by a man from another group.
Jurors were told a fight ensued between that youth and the man who had punched him and Mr Moore tried to intervene and the man tried to escape but tripped over a chain, enabling the officer to catch up with him. Jemima Stephenson, prosecuting, said: He was trying to restrain the boy who punched him and kicked him as he tried to escape.
PC Moore was kicked from behind in the back which caused him to fall forward and the man managed to get away and get from under him and booted him in the face." PC Moore, the court heard, was then kicked by a number of people and Ms Stephenson said, in his words, he was "taking a kicking." He ran after the group to the Miners pub and was assaulted there.
Mr McGrath accepted being there but denied hitting the officer. The IrishMirror has previously reported Mr McGrath volunteered after 9/11 to clean up the site but he was unable to work any more after "the dust affected his lungs."
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