Speeding down his driveway before getting out of his Mercedes and throwing his T-shirt off on the floor, Bugzy Malone had just left two men with broken jaws.

After being warned strangers were breaking into his house, Malone had raced back home to protect his loved ones.

It was his burgeoning fame in the music world that sparked this ugly fracas in rural Lancashire, worlds away from his difficult beginnings in inner city Manchester.

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Now three years on, a jury unanimously accepted he was acting in self defence when he punched the two men.

Malone, who made it to the top despite a difficult start in life, time in jail as a teenager, brushes with the law and a near fatal accident, now switches attentions from his court battle to his upcoming UK tour.

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Trouble has never been too far from the star, who faced a possible jail sentence if convicted.

Bugzy, then better known as Aaron Davies, was born in Withington Hospital and grew up in Crumpsall.

Bugzy Malone arriving at Manchester Crown Court

He spent the early part of his childhood with his mother and stepfather until around the age of ten or eleven, when their relationship ‘broke down’.

Malone claimed his mum’s partner became abusive to her and also beat him up.

He said it affected his schooling at Phillips High School in Prestwich, and he was expelled at the age of 13.

"I was struggling to concentrate and got kicked out," he said, having to be asked by the judge to raise his voice at least twice while giving evidence.

“I was not a troublesome student but I figured I needed to learn to look after myself.

“What was difficult was in the beginning it was a good family life and it was functional. And it became dysfunctional and you lose people you love."

Malone even recalled being stabbed by 'a group of guys' during the six week holidays before high school.

Being kicked out of his mother's house added to his troubles, losing his 'structure', and getting in with the wrong crowd.

The real wake up call came when he was jailed for six months aged 16.

It was boxing, and later music that he credited with his salvation.

Manchester boxing stalwart Brian Hughes MBE, the former chief coach at Collyhurst and Moston Gym, took Malone under his wing and helped to instil a positive attitude.

"They were turning up to work early, and taking it seriously. It was my first experience of a profession."

He then decided to take his childhood passion for music to the next level.

Mixtapes and videos of his music on YouTube, with confessional lyrics often inspired by his upbringing, were viewed millions of times and earned him fans in his home city and beyond.

2010 saw the release of his first mixtape, and he continued to build up a huge following.

But even as his star continued to rise, it was not his last brush with the law.

Malone punched a man twice to the mouth during an early hours argument outside Manchester's Panacea nightclub in January 2015.

His victim used racial insults and was later thrown out by door staff.

But Malone was prosecuted and received a suspended sentence the following year, after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

By that point, he was already a burgeoning star of Manchester's emerging grime scene.

His music was being played on national radio, and his songs were making the UK charts.

Bugzy Malone and his lawyer Lachlan Nisbet outside court

“Outside of London there was not really artists getting the recognition that would happen in London," he said.

"I was kind of the first rapper from the north of England that made a serious impact and that led to national success as well.”

And Malone was becoming an in demand live act.

He performed at the We Are Manchester benefit concert following the Arena terror attack, alongside Mancunian institutions Noel Gallagher and The Courteeners.

High profile performances continued at Parklife and Glastonbury Festival, as well as sharing stages with other Mancunian legends The Stone Roses and Liam Gallagher.

Since then he has even earned a role in a Hollywood film, the gangster flick The Gentlemen, starring Hollywood A-listers Colin Farrell and Hugh Grant.

Bugzy Malone at We Are Manchester

It was just weeks after that support slot with the younger Gallagher brother that his fame caught up with him, in a violent incident that led him to the dock of crown court dock three years later.

In an interview with the M.E.N at the time to promote the gig, he told of being mobbed in the Arndale centre by fans wanting selfies.

This time, teenage fans, who wanted a piece of their hero, went to his home in Ramsbottom.

Malone, who'd recently moved in to the property in September 2018, said he'd been trying to keep a low profile in the town.

It was Ramsbottom's annual black pudding throwing festival which had brought the teenagers out that day.

After spending some time at the event with friends and family, they decided to break off and see whether Malone was around, having heard he'd moved in to the area.

One boy had climbed a wall and started peering over a perimeter fence and shouting 'Bugzy', and some lyrics to one of his songs.

The children ran off after someone came out.

One girl was left 'terrified' after a car, which they believed was being driven by Malone, drove at them aggressively.

Denying he chased them, he would later say he had simply tried to 'motivate them' to leave.

The children called their parents.

Bugzy Malone was seen taking his top off after getting out of his Mercedes

The dad of one boy was not prepared to let bygones be bygones.

Angry and apparently drunk, he was on the warpath after being told his son had been threatened.

Armed with a brick and picking up stones from the floor, he demanded to speak with the man of the house.

Malone was out, planning to go shopping in Manchester with his sister, while his girlfriend and mother remained in the house.

He'd reached Cheetham Hill Road by the time he received a call from his girlfriend, who was 'hysterical'.

Three men were smashing up the house, she said.

The father of the boy, who can't be named for legal reasons, had forced his way through Malone's electric gates.

He was shouting and gesturing, and throwing stones and a brick at the house.

The man would later be prosecuted and convicted for criminal damage.

Another man, who also can't be named for legal reasons, said he also made his way through the gates to persuade the man to leave.

Meanwhile Malone was racing back to Ramsbottom.

The footage was captured moments after he'd punched the two men

"The truth is I was scared," he would later tell a jury.

"You know you are going into a volatile situation," he said, recounting how a neighbour told him his house was 'being done over'.

As he arrived back he saw a confrontation between his neighbour and the men.

"Are these the guys who broke into the house?," Malone asked him.

One man ‘lunged’ at him, he said, while the other made a ‘sharp movement’ in his direction with a clenched fist.

Malone punched both of them. They went to hospital and suffered broken jaws.

After the fracas he drove his Mercedes onto the drive and was seen taking his top off.

"It all happened very quickly," he said.

"The closer I got to the situation I could tell these guys were not interested in talking.”

Malone was accused of then 'booting' the man's friend to the head 'like he was kicking a football', as he lay on the floor, an allegation he denied.

He was also involved in a scuffle with a third man, the father of the boy who had been so angered.

Context was everything in this case, his legal team told jurors, with split second decisions being made.

The 12 men and women of the jury were surely wondering how they would react, if their home and loved ones were under threat.

Bugzy Malone told fans he was "lucky to be alive" after a serious crash

With their verdicts, they decided that Malone, who has since moved to London, was justified and acted in self defence.

The maximum sentence for the offences he was accused of, inflicting grievous bodily harm, is five years.

He has a UK tour and huge hometown show scheduled for the Arena in December, which could have been in jeopardy.

Malone suffered serious injuries in a near fatal quad bike crash in Bury last year.

He later said he felt lucky to be alive.

Having returned with his knowingly named latest album The Resurrection earlier this year, the Arena gig is set to be a triumphant return for one of Manchester's most prominent musicians.

After emerging from a week long court battle and a horrendous crash, his path to the top continues.