A jury took just over two hours to acquit Shaun Gorman, pictured, of manslaughter on a unanimous verdict on Wednesday last week following the death of 21-year-old Ryan McCabe, from Cowie in Scotland.
Gorman, 36, of Park Road, was charged after Mr McCabe died from a brain haemorrhage following a confrontation near the Sea Life Centre, on Blackpool Prom, in August.
The prosecution alleged that he struck Mr McCabe, knocking him to the ground and causing his fatal injury.
However, the defendant told Preston Crown Court during his trial that he hit out in self-defence after his group were set upon by a much larger stag party from Scotland.
Gorman said it was he who had been attacked and only fired out a 'warning shot' because he feared he would be kicked to the ground.
He had told the court previously: "I was telling them I didn’t want to fight basically.
"In the end I thought,'I’m going to get hurt again here'. I was scared if I got hit the chances were I would go down and I know what would have happened if I went down — I think I would have had my head kicked in.
"I threw a warning shot. I caught him with my hand," he said, describing it as a 'clip'.
"I was shocked that the guy had gone down. What contact there was, if there was any, was minimal.
"The last time I saw him he was trying to get back up."
When later arrested he explained he had burst into tears, after hearing that the man had stopped breathing. Mr McCabe died in hospital of a traumatic haemorrhage, resulting from damage to the vertebral artery.
The jury also heard that Mr McCabe had a cocktail of alcohol and drugs in his system, including cannabis and cocaine.The defence said the mixture would have reduced the younger man's inhibitions, made him more inclined to fight, impaired his co-ordination and made him more likely to fall over.
