A man was allowed to go free after his murder trial came to a sudden end yesterday in the Central Criminal Court.
Mr Justice Finnegan found there was insufficient evidence to continue the trial in which Mr Derek Casserly (32) was accused of the murder and abduction of Mr Michael Godfrey.
?????????i believe, had tried to doublecross a criminal, believed to be the now deceased gang leader P.J. Judge.
Mr Casserly, formerly of Donomore Crescent, Killin arden, Tallaght, Dublin, denied murdering Mr Godfrey (55), formerly of Thatch Road, Whitehall, in a field off Scribblestown Lane, Finglas.
Mr Godfrey was taken by masked men from his North Circular Road flat in Dublin at about midnight on April 3rd, 1993, and shot twice in the head.
Mr Casserly went on trial in the Central Criminal Court on November 27th last. After two days of evidence, Mr Justice Finnegan sent the jury away while he heard evidence on the admissibility of statements made by Mr Casserly in custody.
Yesterday, the judge said he had found there was insufficient evidence to put before the jury. He directed it to find Mr Casserly not guilty of murder and not guilty of falsely imprisoning Mr Godfrey in the North Circular Road flat.
The DPP entered a nolle pro-sequi on another count, that of false imprisonment of a witness, Mr Paul Carwood, in the flat.
The man who fired the "execution-type shot" to the back of the head that killed Mr Godfrey was alleged to have been the criminal gang leader P.J. Judge, who was himself shot dead in 1997.
Counsel for the DPP, Mr Tom O'Connell SC, told the jury at the start of Mr Casserly's trial that Mr Godfrey may have attempted to double-cross a criminal in connection with a counterfeit deal he was involved in.