Kes Ingoldsby, 18, and his friend were said to have lain in wait for former Round Table chairman Stephen Langford after an argument in a late-night takeaway in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.

Then they were alleged to have beaten him to death in a brief but brutal explosion of violence.

The Crown - whose case was branded dishonest and an "affront to British justice" by the defence - claimed that having felled him with a powerful punch, they repeatedly kicked the defenceless man in the head.

Ingoldsby - whose father Denis launched the careers of Louise Nurding and Dina Carroll - and 19-year-old James Diggens then fled.

The telecoms sales director, who was left lying in the road just yards from a closed police station, might already have been dead.

But Ingoldsby's QC savaged the "shameful, shoddy" prosecution, and accused them of trying to conceal the truth.

For their part, the pair admitted getting into a fight with the 43-year-old executive - a friend of local Tory MP Boris Johnson - last December but insisted the powerfully-built 18-stone fitness enthusiast was the real aggressor.

Diggens made clear that while he struck the first blows - a light punch to the face followed by a "half-hearted" kick - he had only been trying to protect his friend. It was an account crucially backed up by a key prosecution witness.

Ingoldsby also admitted striking the businessman, but said it was no more than a slap as he lay on the ground.