A FORMER prison officer has been found not guilty of murdering a friend on his 40th birthday.
James Johnson, 29, claimed he feared he was going to be 'raped or sexually assaulted' by David Toulson, so put him in a 'guillotine chokehold' during the celebrations at a flat in Salford.
He then called 999 and told operators: "Someone tried to rape me and I've killed them." He later added: "I think I've killed my friend." Mr Toulson's cause of death was found to be asphyxia, resulting from compression to the neck.
Manchester Crown Court previously heard Mr Johnson, who is a straight man, Mr Toulson, who was gay, and two women had been out celebrating Mr Toulson's birthday on June 25 last year, in which they had been to a bottomless brunch drag event in the Canal Street area of the city centre.
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