A MAN has been acquitted of assaulting a youngster.

Shane Nix breathed a deep sigh of relief when jurors found him not guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The jury of four men and eight women took less than three hours to come to its unanimous verdict at Oxford Crown Court yesterday.

During the trial, prosecutor Kim Preston alleged Nix left the young boy with severe bruising and scratches after the assault between November 6 and November 18 last year.

But 23-year-old Nix, of Cherry Tree Close, Abingdon, denied the charge.