Ellsworth Wilson walked from Supreme Court a free man yesterday after Puisne Judge Norma Wade directed the jury to return not guilty verdicts to all three of the charges facing him.

Mr. Wilson's dramatic release came after a controversial trial which saw allegations that a detective was urged by other officers to change her witness statement and accusations that the trial had been sabotaged by "sloppy Police work''.

At the close of the Crown's case on Wednesday, lawyers argued about the continuity of the alleged drugs package that had been taken from Wilson on February 21, 1996.

On Monday, the first day of the trial, Det. Sgt. Steven Lightbourne told the court that he secured the drugs in a safe the same day that they had been taken from Wilson.

But Det. Sgt. Ian Coyles contradicted this version of events when he said he saw another officer place the drugs in the safe.

Moreover, Det. Sgt. Lightbourne only signed his name to the drugs package on February 22, 1996.

Consequently, Mrs. Justice Wade ruled that the chain of continuity of the evidence was not maintained.

As a result, she said there was no way that the Police could say for sure that the bag of drugs that Det. Sgt. Steven Lightbourne signed and locked in the safe on February 22, 1996 were the same drugs that were allegedly seized from Wilson one day earlier.

On that basis, Mrs. Justice Wade found there was insufficient evidence on which to bring forward the charges against Wilson and she ordered them withdrawn.

Before ordering formal not guilty pleas to the charges of possessing heroin and handling the drug with intent to supply and simple possession, Mrs.

Justice Wade was openly critical of the Police detectives.

She called the investigation "the most reprehensible conduct'' she had ever seen and as a consequence, the entire "Police Force was brought into disrepute''.

And Mrs. Justice Wade praised Det. Con. Lendrea Davis for showing "tremendous courage'' in the face of constant badgering which ensured that the integrity of the Police Force was maintained.

Det. Con. Davis, who resigned from the Police Service on Wednesday (see releated story), allegedly refused to change her statement to match other Police officers' witness statements.

Attorney General Elliott Mottley, who prosecuted the case, said yesterday that his department considered it was important, in view of the allegations surrounding this case, to proceed to trial.

He said several matters needed to be heard in public because there needed to be transparency at all stages.

"This was a sloppy investigation,'' he said. "What should have been a simple matter of taking a package that had been seized on Wednesday, February 21, 1996 and then not having it marked until Thursday, February 22, 1996 at 11.30 a.m. was not right.

"There is simply no excuse for this. There is no excuse for their conduct. It should be corrected as a matter of urgency and I hope that serious consideration is given to that aspect.'' Mr. Wilson, who hugged friends, well wishers and relatives after his acquittal yesterday, declined to speak to The Royal Gazette when asked if he had any comment.

He referred a Royal Gazette reporter to his lawyer Tim Marshall who said: "I think that the ruling says that in Bermuda we're not going to tolerate either sloppy or corrupt Police practices and that should give a great deal of comfort to the people of Bermuda.

"This is an important case which I am sure will result in significant changes in Police practice and that has got to be a plus for the administration of justice on this island.

"We should all feel very good about what happened today. There has been talk that our jury system does not work on this island.

"But this shows that the jury system does work on this Island. This case also shows that the jury system is absolutely necessary to ensure the integrity of this system.'' The case turned on several key issues but the most important one was whether the Police statements were properly taken.

Det. Con. Davis was the officer responsible for recording all the events preceding, during and after Wilson's arrest around 2.45 p.m. on February 21, 1996.

All the officers investigating the matter used her notes to compile their own statements for the trial.

However there were material discrepancies between what the officers recorded and what Det. Con. Davis had in her written notes.

Consequently, Det. Con. Rudolph Richardson, the lead investigator, was anxious to speak to Det. Con. Davis to convince her to change her statement so that it was consistent with all the others.

Det. Con. Davis refused to do this and said that one of the pages of her statement had a false signature.

And it emerged that Det. Con. Richardson had witnessed signatures even though he did not see the officer sign the statement.

Another officer admitted he signed blank statement forms attached to written notes and left them to be typed against procedures.

Wilson trial ends Moreover, Det. Con. Richardson tried desperately to meet with Det. Con. Davis to get her to change her statement.

And he lied to a senior officer when he was questioned about the matter. But a transcript of one taped conversation presented in court on Wednesday between himself and Det. Con. Lendrea Davis presented a different picture.

It emerged that Det. Con. Richardson met several times with Det. Con. Davis to discuss changing the statements.

He even arranged a meeting with her at the Hamilton Police Station on May 14, 1997 and tried to get her to change it.

Det. Con. Richardson said he never wanted to induce Det. Con. Davis to lie but he wanted to have her include in her statement that money had been seized from Wilson when he was arrested.

A Police investigation was launched soon after because Det. Con. Davis, through her solicitor, alleged that she was being pressured to lie on her statements.

Once this controversy became public, Deputy Police Commissioner Jean Jacques Lemay looked into the allegations and the Wilson trial was adjourned.

Just before the trial was set to begin, the Bermuda Police Service said that its investigation into the Det. Con. Davis' allegations found that there was insufficient evidence to press charges.

Lead defence lawyer John Perry QC argued strenuously that the trial should be stayed because it would otherwise amount to an abuse of process.

He pointed out that Davis' notes had disappeared and so the authenticity of the recording could never be tested in court.

But Mrs. Justice Wade did not grant the stay of proceedings because she said that there were enough controls within the court system to ensure Wilson received a fair trial.

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