The legal cloud that has hung over Olly Barkley's head all season was lifted yesterday, when a charge of actual bodily harm was dismissed for lack of evidence, leaving the Bath centre free to concentrate on winning trophies in his last season at his club and winning back a place in the England squad for the tour to New Zealand in June.

Barkley, 26, had expected his case to go to a trial by jury on August 20, but Aylesbury Crown Court was told yesterday morning that the Crown Prosecution Service was ready to drop the charge. The player has long been confident that it would not stand up, but the relief was genuine.

“I'm really pleased that I'm now able to put this behind me,” Barkley said. “I refused to allow it to affect me on the pitch and hopefully my performances have demonstrated that. But now I'm just happy to move on from it and do what I can to bring home some silverware this season.”

Bath play Sale Sharks on Saturday for a place in the final of the European Challenge Cup and could end the Guinness Premiership season with a home tie in the play-offs.

The case arose from an incident at the wedding reception at Stowe School last July of Matthew Perry, Barkley's Bath colleague, and involved another guest, Simon Cole, a TV producer. It did not stop Barkley being selected for England's World Cup squad and he appeared three times in the pool matches that preceded England's advance to the final against South Africa in Paris in October.

But Brian Ashton, the former England head coach, decided not to name Barkley in his squad for the RBS Six Nations Championship in case the impending court case interfered with his form or his availability to train. “My feeling was that I was playing well, that it wasn't affecting me or the side I was playing in,” Barkley said. “Brian had his feelings, I had mine.”

Bath's successes, however, give Barkley the stage on which to impress Martin Johnson, the new England team manager, and Rob Andrew, the RFU's director of elite rugby, who will manage the squad in New Zealand. “Olly's performances this season are testament to the fact that this has not affected him in any way on the pitch,” Steve Meehan, the Bath head coach, said, which makes Barkley's departure to join Gloucester next season all the more cause for regret.

- Leeds Carnegie are expected to announce today the signing of Henry Paul for next season’s National Division One campaign. Paul, 34, won six caps at centre for England while with Gloucester but over the past two years has reverted to his original code, rugby league, with Harlequins.