A WEST Belfast man has been acquitted of possessing a sawn-off shotgun after it emerged the Crown was offering no further evidence.
Gerard Martin McClory was charged with possessing the firearm and ammunition after the items were recovered in the attic of his Gartree Place home during a police search in July 2016.
Mr McClory denied the charge and the case against him was sent for trial at Belfast Crown Court. The hearing was opened on Monday, when a Crown prosecutor told a jury that the sawn-off shotgun, shotgun cartridges and ammunition were found in a large bag in the eaves of his home.
It was the Crown's case that the 49-year old's palm prints were recovered from the outer surfaces of a bag contained within the larger bag, and that traces of DNA found on a sock containing ammunition could not be ruled out as his.
Mr McClory was arrested and denied knowing anything about the weapon and ammunition, and pleaded not guilty to possessing the items in suspicious circumstances, and possessing the shotgun without a firearms certificate.
As the trial entered its third day, the Crown barrister told Judge Kevin Finnegan QC the prosecution would be offering no further evidence. As a result, Judge Finnegan ordered the jury to enter not guilty verdicts by direction to both charges.
After being acquitted of the charges, Mr McClory was told by the judge that he was free to go.
