A 43-year-old man has been cleared of assaulting a boy who threw paper towels at him in a supermarket toilet.

Paul Whybrow was found not guilty of common assault against the youth after a trial at King's Lynn magistrates.

The incident was alleged to have taken place in the toilets at Tesco in Downham Market on December 16 2023. 

Giving evidence via a video link the boy, who was 15 at the time, was asked what happened by prosecutor Irsa Iqbal.

He said he had gone into the toilet with his friend and had been singing a Christmas song when a man in the next cubicle told him he couldn't sing.

The boy told the court that Mr Whybrow then came out of the cubicle and threw a fake punch at him.

"He grabbed me from behind, pushed me forcibly to the floor and went, 'Never do that again,'" he added.

Sophie Clifford, defending Mr Whybrow, asked the boy whether he had thrown wet paper towels at him over the sides of the cubicle because he thought it was funny.

She asked whether he had grabbed his shirt and made it clear he was doing so to prevent him from getting away. 

The boy responded: "That's not true."

When asked whether he had made up the assault so he would not get into trouble, he said he had given an accurate account.

Mr Whybrow, of Smeeth Road, Marshland St James, near Wisbech, said in the witness box that he had been in the toilet cubicle when he felt wet wads of paper landing on him.

He said he went out and tried to grab the boy to prevent him getting away so he could alert store staff, but stumbled because he was trying to pull his trousers up.

Ms Iqbal said that did not justify assaulting a child and he did not use reasonable force.

Miss Clifford said Mr Whybrow had intended to take the boy to store staff for the matter to be reported.

Magistrates returned a not guilty verdict.