A DENTIST was today cleared by a jury of punching his former girlfriend in the stomach after he ended their relationship.

Jonathan Cape was unanimously acquitted of causing Allie Winslade actual bodily harm following a two day trial at Bradford Crown Court.

He was embraced by his supporters in the public gallery after he was discharged from the dock this afternoon.

Judge David Hatton QC told him: "You are free to go, thank you."

Mr Cape, 46, had always insisted he never touched his former partner Allie Winslade when she called at his home to collect her children's pet rabbits on June 9 last year.

The mother-of-four accused him of banging her head on the kitchen door frame, pulling her hair and punching her forcibly in the stomach during a heated argument after she had finished with him.

But Mr Cape, of South Parade, Ilkley, gave the jury a very different account.

He said Miss Winsdale was out to cause trouble and make his life as miserable as possible after the break up.

She exploded with rage only minutes after turning up at his address.

Mr Cape told the police: "She was wanting me to hit her.

"There was no physical contact. Not even a touch."

Describing Miss Winslade as "a very calculating woman" he told a police officer the assault allegation was incredible.

He said the couple were together for three and a half years after they met at a birthday party in 2010.

She was lively and very funny and he was "smitten by her initially".

But the relationship hit problems and he had twice previously ended it before telling her it was finally over.

Mr Cape, who works as a dentist in Ilkley, said he called the police in March, 2011, because Miss Winsdale was screaming and shouting at him in the early hours and he was worried about his neighbours being disturbed.

"She was shouting: 'You'll never work again. You are finished in this town.'

"It was a barrage, a wall of sound," he said.

Mr Cape told the jury he decided to break with Miss Winslade for good because living "in a house of drama" was making him ill.

When she texted to say she was coming round that morning, he was "waiting for an onslaught of some description."

She screamed obscenities and berated him about his previous interest in internet porn.

His brother, Nick, arrived a few minutes later and Miss Winslade drove off with the rabbits.

After the case, Mr Cape’s father, John, said: “Justice has been seen to be done, fully. My son is an honourable man. It has been a very traumatic time for all of us.”

John Cape said his son would now be continuing his career in Ilkley.

“It will be business as usual,” he said.