A footballer accused of biting his wife's tongue when she kissed him at a dinner party has been acquitted of wounding.

A jury at Cardiff Crown Court took just 15 minutes to find 36-year-old Chris Pike not guilty of deliberately inflicting the injury on his wife Lesley.

Mr Pike, a former striker with Cardiff City, Fulham and Hereford United, told the court he instinctively bit down on his wife's tongue because she was choking him.

Mrs Pike, 35, needed 12 stitches in her tongue and another three to her lip.

Chris Pike...not guilty

He told the jury: "A goalscorer does everything by instinct. When she shoved her tongue down my throat I acted instinctively and bit down."

The court heard the pair are now divorced and Mrs Pike speaks with a lisp.

Mr Pike, who now plays for Barry Town and is divorced, had denied wounding with intent and unlawful wounding.
 

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