Charges have been dropped against a convicted armed robber accused of breaking into a house in Warwick and inflicting harm on a man with a three-foot metal object.

Derek Spalding, 35, was accused of aggravated burglary and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to alleged victim Derrick Butterfield.

He was further accused of doing wilful damage to his motor vehicle.

Mr Spalding, of North Terrace, Pembroke, pleaded not guilty to the charges earlier this year. His trial was due to start next month, but yesterday prosecutor Maria Sofianos asked Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves to accept the Crown's application to drop the charges, which is known as a nolle prosequi.

The judge agreed, telling Mr Spalding: “They're taking no further action against you at this time, therefore my order is that you should be discharged at this time. I should caution you that this does not mean that the Crown can't come back and proceed against you again.”

Neither the prosecutor nor judge explained in court why the charges were dropped. However, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Carrington Mahoney explained afterwards: “The nolle was entered because the complainant wrote a withdrawal statement.”

Spalding was sentenced to 28 years in prison in 1997 after shooting a man during a daylight robbery at Lindo's supermarket in Devonshire in June 1996. He fired three shots when staff tried to apprehend him, one of which hit a male customer in the arm.

Spalding had used the same gun to rob the offices of John W Swan on Victoria Street in April 1996. He fired a shot then too, when confronted by a cashier.

When he was sentenced for both crimes, he blamed a bad upbringing and a “doomed society” for his problems.