THE nightmare continues for York man Matt Neale, who has spent the past two-and-a-half years fighting allegations he assaulted a police officer during a stag weekend in 2008.

Matt, 36, who lost his wife, Charelle, to breast cancer earlier this month, had already been cleared of the offence twice when he returned to the Baltic country this week to attend another appeal hearing.

Upon arrival at the court in Riga, he discovered the prosecution had decided to drop the assault charge, but instead charged him with resisting arrest.

Matt, who lives in Acomb, denied the charge – but two hours later was found guilty and fined £5,500.

He told The Press he would appeal against the verdict.

He said: “If I had the money I would just pay it now so I can get on with my life, but I don’t have that option because I don’t have the money.

“With Charelle passing away everything in the house has to be paid by me now and I have not got the money.”

Matt, a structural engineer, said the ordeal had already cost him about £25,000 in travel costs, hotel bills and lost earnings while he was in prison for ten weeks, awaiting trial.

He said he believed he was being made a scapegoat by the Latvian authorities who wanted to clamp down on rowdy stag groups in the capital city.

He said: “We had been having a laugh in a bar and we were asked to leave for being too noisy.

“I was walking out and a policeman grabbed me from behind and hit me in the ribs and slammed me on to the floor.

“I have got a medical report that shows bruising to my ribs, whereas the police officer didn’t have any bruising. There is CCTV available that shows I did nothing wrong and the only evidence against me is what the police officer has told the court. It’s my word against a policeman’s word.”

He said he believed the stress of the ongoing court proceedings had made Charelle more ill, contributing to her death.