A Co Tyrone man who killed his grandfather as a teenager has been acquitted of involvement in a violent shop robbery more than five years ago.
It was the second time Eamon Charles Coyle, from Drumlegagh Road South, between Drumquin and Omagh, had faced trial for the raid on Omagh's Kevlin Road in February 2012.
A jury at Belfast Crown Court was directed yesterday by Judge David McFarland to acquit the 24-year-old of robbery, possessing an offence weapon and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, after the prosecution 'offered no evidence'.
Coyle, who was jailed in 2010 for the manslaughter of 78-year-old Francis O'Neill after he broke into his home, stabbed him in the neck and strangled him for £80 rent money, was given an eight-year sentence for the shop robbery in 2014.
However, the following year the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial.
When it came before Belfast Crown Court earlier this week, the prosecution applied for an adjournment.
Judge McFarland refused, saying the matter had been hanging over Coyle's head for too long and that "the defendant is here and is entitled to his trial".
At the time of the robbery, Coyle had been out on licence for only 11 weeks after serving part of a two-year sentence for the manslaughter of his grandfather.
He was later returned to Hydebank Young Offenders' Centre to serve out the remainder of that term after allegedly being identified from CCTV footage as one of the hooded robbers.
During his three-day trial it was claimed Coyle was armed with a baton and was one of two men who demanded cash from a teenage shop assistant who was punched in the face and chest.
It was also claimed that he beat the teenager with the baton as tried to grab cash from the till.
During the struggle the cash was scattered and the robbers made off with just £41.
