Mark Jordon Emmerdale: What Happened In His Court Case?
Actor Mark Jordon (Emmerdale) was recently cleared of assault on a pensioner who called his teenage daughter was ‘a slag’ in a pub beer garden.
Andrew Potts, 68, was bitten by the actor following a row over Jordon’s 18-year-old teenager Poppy outside a pub in Oldham. According to the actor who plays Daz Spencer in Emmerdale, Mr Potts had called his daughter a ‘slag’ and claimed that he had a video of her which he would post on YouTube.
At the time, Poppy was straddling her boyfriend in the pub’s beer garden.
On the night of the incident (July 1 2019), Mark Jordon (Emmerdale star) was celebrating his engagement to partner and Emmerdale co-star Laura Norton.
After Potts comments, the pair broke out in a scuffle, where Jordon could be seen being held back from Potts, who punched and kicked the father. The fight ended after the pensioner was pulled out of the pub.
But It Wasn’t Over…
The jury heard that as Jordon was sat in a taxi about to go home, he spotted the 68-year-old returning to the pub and, worried about what he was about to do, got out of his ride and confronted him.
The actor explained that whilst he had bitten Mr Pott’s thumb and eyebrow, it was a ‘natural reaction’ to him having his hand inside his mouth. He said it was:
“Just sheer panic and fear and he had pulled me so close at one point I was worried I was going to get more injuries than I already had.
“It looked like he was snarling so I was worried he was maybe going to try to retaliate with a bite.
“I did exactly what he was going to do.
“It was not planned. It was pure instinct.”
The Jury Decided He Wasn’t Guilty
A jury of twelve deliberated on the matter for just under 7 h0urs before reaching the conclusion that Gordon was not guilty. As such, he was cleared of all charges on the verdict that he acted in self-defence.
His fiancee Laura Norton shed tears in the gallary as she watched her future husband found not guilty.
Image Source/Star
After he left the court, Jordon said:
“I really am grateful to the jury for proving my innocence and especially for proving the innocence of my loved ones, who’ve had to endure this awful ordeal with me this last year.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to our engagement and my career, which has been on hold.
“I just want to thank our families, our friends, our work colleagues and especially the members of the public, who have just been delightful and supportive.
“Thank you very much, but for the moment I need to go home and start getting back to what we started just before this incident.”
He Now Knows Who His ‘Real Friends’ Are
After a ‘year of hell’, Mark revealed that going through the assault charge had helped him to ‘gain an education’ of who his true friends are.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, he revealed that his wife-to-be, as well as his co-stars, helped his put his life back together.
Nick Miles, who plays Jimmy King, Sammy Winward, who played Katie Sugden, and Chris Chittell, who is Eric Pollard, were a few of those who appeared in the gallery to support their friend and co-star.
“I feel very blessed that I have gained an education.”
“The people around you, you always take for granted and accept the love that you’ve got. But this year has been incredible to find out who supports you and who will stand and be counted.
His Relationship With Pals Has Got Stronger
“Laura and I’s relationship is stronger than it’s ever been. To have friends and colleagues who commit to coming to court. To be there all the way through, it’s been an eye opener.”
“I might be very boring but I do have a reputation of being a good character and a nice bloke. So to suddenly be labelled something that’s quite villainous and aggressive. All these statements that get made about you, it turns your world upside down.”
“There was a lot of time Laura would tell me I was shouting out in my sleep. I had hives – that sounds like a little violin moment. What I am trying to say is the stress accumulates, it comes out in ways that you don’t know.”
Mark appeared last in Emmerdale in January and added that he hope to return to the soap in the future.
“It was left open, thank goodness. That building used to be part of where I filmed Heartbeat, shows before that in my youth.
“To be back in Emmerdale and see people that were training running the cameras etc.
“Yes the opportunity to possibly go back is something I’m holding dear to.”
