A MAN who spent five months behind bars for a crime he did not commit is today free, after clearing his name.

Lance Edward Thiim, 34, spoke of his relief after a jury acquitted him of wounding Mark Webster at an address in Nelson Street, York, on New Year’s Day.

He said: “I can not believe I am finally free.”

Mr Thiim, of Warwick Street in York, had been accused of hitting Mr Webster with a bottle, causing a head injury that required stitches at York Hospital. But he was cleared after a two-day trial.

Speaking outside court, Mr Thiim, who had been remanded in custody since he was arrested on January 1, said: “It is such a relief, I feel like my life is starting again.

“I have been so ill. I’m just happy to be free.”

A jury at York Crown Court heard police were called in the early hours of New Year’s Day by witness Barbara Waugh, who said she had seen Mr Thiim and Mr Webster fighting in her back garden.

PC Dean Turner, who was one of the first officers on the scene, told the court how Mr Webster was “caked in blood”.

The court was shown pictures of Mr Webster’s injuries – a head wound wrapped in bandages and a blackened, cut eye.

Mr Webster had been drinking in the Castle Howard Ox pub on New Year’s Eve where he had attended a fancy dress party dressed as a Tasmanian devil.

Mr Thiim and Mrs Waugh had been drinking in the Reflex nightclub before separating.

Mr Thiim had then made his way back to Nelson Street.

Mr Webster had claimed Mr Thiim attacked him in the back garden of Mrs Waugh’s home, hitting him over the head with a wine bottle and threatening to kill him.

But Taryn Turner, defending Mr Thiim, accused Mr Webster of being drunk and making up the claim, saying he had been “flat out” in the garden when Mr Thiim arrived.

She said at that time, he had already sustained his injury.

It took the jury less than three hours to return a not-guilty verdict. As the foreman spoke, Mr Thiim, who had denied the charges, whispered “thank you”.