A CHORLEY man has been acquitted of the brutal murder of his stepfather.

Lee Shergold, 32, of Woodlands Meadow, Chorley, was cleared of being involved in the killing of West Lancashire businessman Kenneth Iddon, 57, of Ormskirk.

His mother Lynda Iddon, the widow of Mr Iddon, was also acquitted of the murder following the Preston Crown Court trial which lasted more than two months.

Mrs Iddon, 56, left court on Monday without commenting after being cleared on the jury's unanimous verdict, along with Mr Shergold, a son from her first marriage.

The verdicts came after 20 hours of deliberations by the jury.

Following his acquittal, Mr Shergold left court with his mother and relatives, driven off in a silver Mercedes.

Mr Iddon's body was discovered by his daughter Gemma on February 2 last year.

He had been beaten, dragged into his garage and his throat cut on returning home from his usual Sunday night snooker trip.

It had been claimed in court that Mr Iddon's wife of nearly 23 years held a burning sense of hatred towards him.

She allegedly asked a one-time boyfriend of Gemma if he knew where she could get a hitman.

Prosecutor Mr Peter Wright QC, told the jury that within days of Mr Iddon's death, Mrs Iddon had been inquiring about her dead husband's estate and he said it must have come as a blow to discover he had left her nothing in his will.

The court heard Mr Shergold was alleged to have had a sense of grievance towards his stepdad and had told fellow defendent Christopher Pye, 33, a work colleague at Barrons caravans, Coppull: "Being a scouser, do you know any hitmen?"

Shergold and his girlfriend gave evidence that he had never left his home after arriving back there several hours before the killing took place.

Mrs Iddon admitted she had felt like having her husband beaten up following his violent assault upon Gemma some time before his death.

But, she insisted, she had made the remark in the heat of the moment and denied having any involvement in his murder or any plot to kill him.

Mr Pye was also found not guilty of murder on Tuesday. The 33-year-old, of Kirkby, was cleared following 25 hours of deliberations.

The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the fourth defendant, Pye's brother-in-law John Climo, a 33-year-old ex-soldier, of Prescot who had also been accused of murdering Mr Iddon.

He was remanded in custody and could face a retrial.