Jury retires in the trial of Leeds man flown back to Britain over pub assault 43 years ago

Rory McGrath, 64, is accused of causing actual bodily harm on the police officer outside The Miners on Garforth’s Aberford Road in March, 1980.

Four other men were convicted of the attack in the months that followed, but McGrath fled the country, first going to Dublin, then moving to America in 1986. He became a US citizen in 2002.

Last year he was arrested at his New York home and eventually flown back to Britain. He has been on remand in HMP Leeds since last July.

Giving evidence during the trial at Leeds Crown Court, which started last week, the patrolling officer said he remembered a fight breaking out and after intervening, was kicked on the floor by the gang. He got up to pursue them as they tried to flee in a car, grabbing one man and turning him around but who then punched him to the face. He says that man was McGrath, who had distinctive dark, curly hair.

McGrath accepts he was present, but denies hitting the officer.

He said he left the country because he had been “harassed” by officers since he was a youngster growing up in Seacroft. He has several convictions dating back to the 1970s, including an attack on police officers the year before the pub incident. However, he maintains he was being attacked by the officers.