Two men accused of assaulting Police officers are to face a retrial after being cleared by a magistrate three years ago.

Carlos Rogers and Cannoth Roberts, both from Southampton, will be brought before the Magistrates' Court on Monday so a date can be fixed for their new trial.

The Attorney General had appealed a decision to free the men after their original trial in January 1995.

And Puisne Judge Richard Ground upheld the prosecution appeal on Friday and sent the case back to Magistrates' Court.

Rogers, 27, of Sinky Bay and Roberts, 21, of Middle Road, each pleaded not guilty to four charges of attacking Police officers as they tried to search the men for drugs in Somerset on September 20, 1994.

Roberts was charged with assaulting a Policeman and a Policewoman, obstructing both officers and violently resisting arrest at around 3 a.m.

Rogers had been charged with doing grievous bodily harm to Sgt. Graham Alderson during the same incident by hitting him over the head with a pair of handcuffs.

He was also charged with wounding and obstructing the Sergeant and violently resisting arrest.

Magistrate Charles-Etta Simmons cleared the men after ruling that the officers did not have "reasonable grounds'' for searching them under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

But Mr. Justice Ground dismissed the Magistrate's ruling yesterday, claiming Rogers in particular was not entitled to use violence.

He said: "With the greatest respect to her, the learned magistrate was wrong in law.

"When considering the lawfulness of Sgt. Alderson's search of Rogers, the learned Magistrate did not consistently apply the correct test and incorrectly analysed the various grounds put forward.

"I therefore hold that her finding that the search was unlawful was flawed in law and cannot stand.'' He added that even if the Police should not have searched Rogers, "the mere unlawfulness of the arrest would not of itself justify a resort to violence, and on its own could provide no outright defence''.

Mr. Justice Ground did not rule whether or not the search of Roberts was lawful, adding: "It is not entirely clear.'' But he said: "It is very much in the public interest that such matters should be resolved properly, one way or the other, and that outweighs any personal inconvenience to the respondents.'' Roberts and Rogers were represented by Sen. Lawrence Scott during yesterday's judgment and Brian Calhoun appeared for the Crown.