A 34-year-old man alleged to have deliberately injured the thumb of his wife's mother during a family row by biting it has been cleared of GBH.

Ashfaq Shah, of Barclay Close, Watford, said he bit into the thumb of Robina Kuesar after she and her husband attacked him without warning at his home.

During a trial this week Shah, who is deaf, said he did not know what was going on after several people burst through the door of his home while he was watching television.

He said his “big, heavy, father-in-law” was on top of his chest punching him, while Mrs Kuesar slapped him.

He admitted biting the woman's thumb after it “ended up” in his mouth, but did not intend to hurt her and stopped as soon as he drew blood, begging for forgiveness.

Cameron Crowe, prosecuting, put it to St Albans Crown Court that Shah knew exactly what he was doing.

He said Shah deliberately bit Mrs Kuesar's thumb causing an injury which required four operations and troubles her today, more than two years after the event.

Mr Crowe said Shah knew what the couple were saying, and that they were angry, because his cousin was translating it into sign language for him.

The prosecution said Shah then became angry with his wife, Shabina's parents after they berated him during the “family dispute” and bit Mrs Keusar deliberately.

The jury of seven men and five women found Shah not guilty of GBH.

Judge Stephen Warner lifted a reporting restriction prohibiting publication of the case part way through the trial because a further allegation against Shah had been dropped.