A son was cleared of attacking his mother after a court was told she bit her own finger off in a bid to frame him.
Kieran Fletcher was found not guilty of biting off the finger after telling the jury she had chewed off her finger and smeared blood on his face during a brawl.
Fletcher said his mother Tracy had turned into “an absolute banshee” and must have ripped off her own finger as they grappled each other on a bed.
He said his mother had been involved in a love triangle and a fight had broken out between them when he branded her parenting skills “a disgrace.”
Fletcher, 23, was remanded in custody after he admitted attacking one of the police officers who turned up to deal with the original family incident. He also admitted acting in a threatening or abusive manner towards police while he was on bail and sentence was deferred for reports.
Fletcher told the trial he had not seen his mother bite the end of her finger off, but said it was the only explanation for the injury. He said he had punched her in self-defence.
Ms Fletcher said she had been headbutted by her son and had blacked out. When she came round later she realised that her fingertip had been bitten clean off and the bone could clearly be seen protruding.
But Fletcher said: “I pinned her down and she started shouting and yelling. I wasn’t letting go of her until I was sure she was calm. She bit my forearm.
“I tried to resist but the more she sunk her teeth in, breaking the skin, I couldn’t take the pain any more and I punched her on the forehead.
“I thought she was going to hit me. I punched her again. She started rubbing the side of my face. It wasn’t until the next day when I saw blood in the police station.
“She wanted to rip my shirt open and I saw the blood on her hand. The first I heard about any biting was the next morning at the police station.
“By a process of elimination the only person who could have done that injury to her was herself. My mum has had plenty years to grow up and act like an adult and stop behaving like an absolute banshee.
“Her close friends have collaborated against me. It was not me. I can only surmise that she has bitten her own finger. She wants to get her own back. It’s vindictive.”
Fiscal depute Gavin Letford said: “She bit her own finger off just so she could get you into trouble? That’s ludicrous.” Fletcher replied: “It’s completely ludicrous, correct.”
Tracy Fletcher had earlier told the jury there was “a chunk” of her right index finger missing and the flesh had been ripped away so much the bone was sticking out.
“I don’t know when my finger got bitten off,” she said. “I didn’t even feel it getting bitten. I had my finger bitten off, so obviously it was my blood.
“He started to say I was a disgrace and a bad mother and whatnot. I knew something was going to kick off. I was in a state of fear wondering what the hell was going to happen. It was all quite quick.
“He started grabbing me and pushing me about. He pushed me into the bedroom. He pushed me again and I landed on the bed.
“He was shouting and bellowing ‘you’re a disgrace of a mother.’ He was on top of me holding my wrists and then he headbutted me. After that I can’t remember a thing.
“After that is a total blur. I can’t remember at what point Kieran bit my finger. I can’t remember feeling it. The whole pad of my finger had been taken off.”
Under cross-examination, she admitted she had self-harmed in the past, but laughed off the suggestion that she might have chewed off her own finger during the fracas.
“You’re having a laugh,” she said. “Why would anybody bite their own finger off? I can’t remember that happening but I wouldn’t have done that myself.
“I have only got half a tip on my finger now. I still have no feeling in my finger. It’s quite noticeable that there’s a chunk been taken out of my finger.”
Fletcher, 23, from Perth, admitted assaulting PC Michael Greshon by butting his shoulder, and making threats to officers, in St Catherine’s Road, Perth, on 28 April.