A man accused of killing an Erith father-of-two in a party prank that went wrong has been cleared of manslaughter.

Desmond Bartley, 21, was accused of the unlawful killing of 23-year-old Tommy Main in June last year when they were involved in a punching game.

But Mr Bartley told his trial at Inner London Crown Court the two were "playing" during the party in Erith and he had no intention of seriously hurting the victim, who he had known for 10 years.

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Not guilty: Desmond Bartley

The suspect, who denied the charge, was found not guilty of manslaughter after jurors deliberated for eight hours and 35 minutes, a court spokesman said.

Mr Bartley said they had been playing a "macho" game of "blow for blow", taking turns to hit each other, having both taken cocaine.

After taking two hits from Mr Main, only one of which connected properly, he took his turn and struck him in the chest.

He told the jury: "Basically he (Mr Main) said 'ah, I felt that', looked at me, laughed and then collapsed."

He said that he thought Mr Main "had lost his breath or something" before he started turning blue and people began trying to resuscitate him, and tried to help by removing Mr Main's two false teeth to prevent him choking.

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Father-of-two Tommy Main.

The formal cause of death was given as cardiac arrest following blunt chest impact and the presence of cocaine and alcohol.

Mr Bartley, of Elm Grove, Erith, told police he had "hardly touched him", adding in court: "The punch that I threw, I never thought it would do something like that, him collapsing."