A man accused of importing a handgun and ten pounds of cannabis inside a television set urged a jury to clear his name claiming he was the victim of an elaborate set-up.

David Anthony Brangman admits buying a TV in the US and sending it to Bermuda via courier package in the name of a friend in December 2002. He also acknowledges that his fingerprints were found on the packaging of the drugs, which had a street value of up to $236,275 at the time. However, he told the Supreme Court jury hearing his trial yesterday that someone must have packed the contraband inside the set without his knowledge while it was in storage for two days prior to shipping.

Brangman alleged that the man who owned the storage facility later admitted doing so but was murdered before the case came to court.

"I would like to tell you from the bottom of my heart, I had nothing to do with this situation that I am being charged here with today," he told the jury.

His ex-girlfriend, Angela Simmons, was arrested after the package arrived in Bermuda addressed to her and the gun and drugs were discovered. She was not charged over the incident. Brangman was eventually arrested in the US and extradited to Bermuda in October 2007.

Crown counsel Brett Webber has attributed the long delay to the lengthy nature of such extradition proceedings. However, defence lawyer Michael Scott claims the delay was compounded by staff changes within the Department of Public Prosecutions.

Ms Simmons, a 45-year-old Mirrors youth programme administrator from Devonshire, gave evidence for the prosecution. She told the jury she was suspicious when Brangman insisted she shipped the TV set on his behalf, but did so as a favour as he'd given her a lift to the airport after they met up during her Christmas shopping trip to the US.

Brangman, a 45-year-old painting contractor with dual Bermudian and US citizenship, said yesterday: "I am just as much of a victim as Ms Simmons feels she was the victim, and I am really concerned that this has been something that has consumed my life for the last seven years. The friendship that I have lost with Angela. Having to put my family through all this."

Judge Carlisle Greaves interrupted at this point to tell the jury that whatever has happened to Brangman since his arrest is irrelevant to the case.

During his testimony as the only witness for the defence, Brangman said he stored the television in a basement belonging to a man named Randy Thomas who lived in East Orange, New Jersey. Brangman claimed he stored equipment for his painting business in the basement, including sticky-tape that was used to package the drugs.

He asked the jury to accept that Mr. Thomas somehow used his sticky-tape to package the illegal items and conceal them in his TV set without his knowledge. He further claimed that he had no idea the contraband was inside when he took Ms Simmons and the TV to the airport, and later helped to arrange to ship the item to Bermuda in her name.

He told the panel that Mr. Thomas admitted as such to him when he learned of Ms Simmons' arrest but Mr. Thomas was murdered near his home just a couple of days later. "I have no idea (why) Mr. Thomas would do something like this, and particularly against me," he claimed.

Brangman admitted that he never contacted the Bermuda Police Service to give them this account of events after Ms Simmons was arrested, and has done nothing to assist the investigation. However, he complained that the extradition proceedings mean the Police were legally barred from interviewing him when he arrived back in Bermuda and he was unable to give his account of events until yesterday.

Brangman explained that his lawyer Mr. Scott tried to obtain information from the New Jersey authorities relating to Mr. Thomas' death, but his requests were refused.

In his closing speech to the jury, Mr. Webber dismissed Brangman's version of events. "It does not make sense. It does not have the ring of truth, and I can certainly say that the fingerprints do not lie," he stressed.

However, Mr. Scott said Brangman never tried to dodge the Police, and a simple Google search of his name revealed where in the US his business, Dave's painting and repairs, was located.

He asked the jury to accept that the seven-year-delay in bringing the case against Brangman had been "most unfair" when it came to gathering information in his defence, and urged them to acquit him. Mr. Justice Greaves is due to sum up the case and send the jury out to consider a verdict today.