Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton has been cleared of assaulting his wife after a judge ruled he could not have a fair trial because prosecutors would not call the alleged victim to give evidence.

The former Premier League midfielder, 40, was accused of pushing Georgia Barton, 36, to the floor before kicking her during a drunken row at their home in Kew, south-west London on June 2 last year.

Mrs Barton, who is said to have been left with a golf-ball sized bruise on her forehead and a bleeding nose, was “audibly upset and shaken”, when she dialled 999 just before 11.15pm, Wimbledon Mag...