The judge in the Thomas Mullen drugs-trafficking trial in London will conclude his summing up this morning, and the jury will consider a verdict. Yesterday the jury was told the Irishman had been friendly with notorious robbers, and numbered armed criminals among his best friends. But the seven women and five men were told not to hold that, or his criminal record, against him.
Judge Timothy King told them Mr Mullen had been friends with those allegedly involved in a robbery in Waterford, one of the biggest robberies in Ireland, where more than £5 million was stolen.
The judge added that Mr Mullen had also been "pals" with crooks involved in the Brink's-Mat robbery in Dublin in 1987, where robbers took more than £1 million from a security van. But judge King said: "The fact he counts amongst his best friends robbers and convicted armed robbers does not make him an armed robber.
"There is no such thing as guilt by association. If you choose to keep bad company it does not mean you are guilty.
"This is important to bear in mind. When Mullen was 19 years old he was friendly with others involved in a serious armed robbery, the Brink's-Mat job and the Waterford case in Ireland."
Mr Mullen's associations with the criminal underworld, and in particular with co-defendant Turhan Mustafa, who has already pleaded guilty, was not a reason to convict him, the judge said.
He also directed the jury to disregard Mr Mullen's past crimes. He said: "You have heard that the defendant had been before the courts when he was a young man in Ireland, for offences including dishonesty, larceny and handling.
"He has never been brought before the courts in relation to drug-trafficking."
The jury was told for the first time today that Mr Mullen had been tried before on the same drug-trafficking charge he faces this week. Judge King told them not to speculate on why the last jury was discharged.
He told the jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court: "You must not speculate about earlier proceedings."
The judge's comments came after Mr Mullen made repeated references to his last trial during his evidence.
Judge King will finish his summing up tomorrow morning. A verdict is expected in the afternoon.