A COUNCILLOR convicted of assaulting his Ukrainian wife after she threw curry in his face during a drink-fuelled argument has had his name cleared.

Hartlepool borough councillor Trevor Rogan saw his conviction overturned at Teesside Crown Court on Thursday.

In June, the councillor was given a 12-month community order and told to complete 100 hours of unpaid work in the community after he was found guilty of common assault by beating following a two-day trial.

He was also ordered to pay his wife, Irina, 33, £150 in compensation for her injuries and £700 towards prosecution costs.

Hartlepool Magistrates' Court heard that Mr Rogan grabbed his wife by the throat, hit her, twisted her arm and pulled her hair during the attack.

But after sentencing, Mr Rogan maintained his innocence and said he would appeal.

Mr Rogan told police he had returned home with his takeaway after four half shandys with an MP when his wife ran downstairs in a white bathrobe.

But his wife said he was drunk and that he punched and kicked her until she fled to a neighbour's to phone the police.

In court this week, Mr Rogan said: "She is making it up. I am the one who had to restrain my wild wife.

"I had put the container dish of curry onto a plate and started to eat when she came downstairs. She was very angry. She more or less accused me of being with my ex-wife, which wasn't true.

"She picked it up screaming and she threw it into my face. It was all over me, all over my hair and all over the floor.

"I was blinded by the hot curry, and the next thing she was raining blows on me with her fists.

"I absolutely deny that I attacked her in any way."

The couple met via the internet in December 2002 and married in Ukraine in June 2003. They set up home in Hartlepool, and their daughter, Anastasia, now three, was born a year later.

Hartlepool magistrates found Mr Rogan guilty on May 29 following the incident on October 22, 2006.

After the appeal, Mr Rogan, now of Thornhill Gardens, said: "I'm not feeling elated because I was innocent all the way along, and now I now find myself having to climb out of a hole.

"I have had very great support from all the residents of the Brus ward and colleagues from where I work and from councillors.

"All this has taken me away from the work I needed to do in my ward. I'll be able to do a lot more in my ward now and I've had fantastic support from all the residents."