Northern Bank Trial Collapses

A man has been cleared of involvement in the 2004 Northern Bank raid, after the trial sensationally collapsed at Belfast Crown Court earlier today.

Twenty-six year old Christopher Ward, from the west of the city, was accused of robbing £26.5 million from the bank's headquarters in Belfast.

Mr Ward also stood trial for falsely imprisoning a work colleague, while the official's wife was taken hostage.

Mr Ward denied the charges.

The trial at Belfast Crown Court began on 9 September.

Today, the presiding judge said: "Given the decision to present no further evidence, I could not arrive at any other verdict."

Prosecution counsel Gordon Kerr QC said the case had been brought before the court based on circumstantial evidence.

"An essential strand related to the circumstances in which the defendant came to be on the rota of the late shift of the Northern Bank on the day of the robbery.

"(It was) fundamental in the case to the prosecution inviting the court to draw inference from other parts of the case."

On December 19, 2004 armed men took over the homes of two Northern Bank employees, Chris Ward in Belfast and Kevin McMullen in County Down.

Both men were told to go to work the following day as normal or their families would be killed.

The key element of the prosecution's evidence was that Mr Ward had allegedly made a last-minute change to the work rota, to ensure he was on duty to facilitate the heist.

Dubbed as one of the biggest bank robberies in recent time, condemnation and blame was squarely pointed at the Provisional IRA by Northern Ireland's top cop and both the British and Irish governments.

However, Sinn Fein denied republican involvement.

Major political ructions were felt in the aftermath of the robbery, with Unionists calling for Republicans to co-operate with the police investigation.

(PR/JM)