A biker has been ordered to pay compensation to a cancer sufferer who was beaten up at a Dartmoor beauty spot after being falsely accused of being a paedophile.

Moses Keeling punched and kicked his victim after forcing him to pull over into an isolated car park at Lettaford Cross, Chagford.

He repeatedly called him a paedophile during the attack even though the accusation was totally untrue and unfounded.

A passing motorist was so worried that he stopped to investigate but Keeling told him his victim had fallen off his bike and he was giving him first aid.

The 51-year-old, was so terrified by the attack that he sped back to his home in Exmouth through country lanes and sought refuge with his brother. He was too frightened to go home because he feared Keeling may find him.

Keeling had met his victim for the first time a few weeks before on Exmouth seafront and was angry that he chose not to pay £20 a month to join his newly-founded biker group called No Bars.

He was cleared of robbing him of £80 from his wallet at a trial at Exeter Crown Court in August.

Keeling, aged 59, of Silver St, Axminster, admitted causing actual bodily harm and was jailed for 16 months, suspended for two years and ordered to do 20 days of rehabilitation activities and pay £1,500 compensation

Adam Hackett, aged 36, of Laburnum Rd, Exeter, denied causing actual bodily harm and was found not guilty at the trial in August.

The judge told Keeling: “You punched and kicked him about the body for a considerable time and he recalled passing out.

“This was a totally unprovoked and sustained assault on a man who you mistook, for no reason whatsoever, for a paedophile.

Mr Adrian Chaplin, prosecuting, said his victim had suffered from cancer for 20 years and was still being treated at the time of the attack in June 2018. He told the jury that he did not deserve what happened to him.