A MAN accused of attacking his former partner with a screwdriver has walked free from court.

Jurors at Newcastle Crown Court found Derek Campbell not guilty of occasioning bodily harm after deciding there was no intent.

Mr Campbell, 42, of Stanhope Street, South Shields, South Tyneside, was alleged to have hit his ex-partner, Julie McMullen, in the face while holding a screwdriver on January 2 last year. Ms McMullen needed three staples for an inch-deep cut to her head and had a cut to her nose.

Mr Campbell went to her house in Beaumount Place, South Shields, to ask for £10 he had lent to her.

Mr Campbell and Ms McMullen split up seven years ago and have an eight-year-old daughter