The boss of a now bankrupt furniture shop was cleared yesterday of eight counts of dodging pension payments, but the Crown said it would continue its efforts to prosecute his wife for the same offence.

The Crown brought charges against both Robert and Jennifer Dwinnell ? the husband and wife managers of shut down furniture company Galleria Ltd., which owned Mills Creek outlet Rooms For You ? earlier this year. But Robert Dwinnell, who stood trial last week, faced the allegations alone after his wife left the Island for Canada last year. She has yet to respond to a summons from the court.

Yesterday magistrate William Francis ruled that Mr. Dwinnell, 49, had no case to answer. But Crown counsel Anthony Blackman said Jennifer Dwinnell, who is the daughter of wealthy Bermuda businessman David Lines, was "still accused and still has to answer".

He added: "In due course the necessary proceedings will be initiated to have her present in the jurisdiction to answer the charges."

Last week defence lawyer Saul Froomkin, who was only representing Robert Dwinnell, said Jennifer Dwinnell was "overseas for medical treatment".

But Mr. Blackman said to that: "We do not have any information to confirm that she is ill."

The Crown said it also intended to appeal yesterday's ruling in the case against Mr. Dwinnell.

Yesterday's ruling that Mr. Dwinnell had no case to answer ? after allegations that pension deductions were taken from staff pay cheques but never paid into the employee pension fund ? convinced creditors left out of pocket that they may never recoup money they paid Rooms For You for furniture orders.

A number of creditors speaking with in months past reported being left high and dry after orders for goods from the Mills Creek outlet were never filled. Down payments were also not paid back.

Yesterday one of the creditors, who asked not to be named, said she had "no hope, no hope whatsoever" of getting back several thousand dollars she had put down to secure a furniture order that never arrived.

And two disgruntled customers said previously they only discovered that they would not be getting their furniture orders when the shop suddenly closed down last September. They claimed that there was never any direct contact on the matter from the Dwinnells. At least one employee said she was also left out of pocket with the store's sudden closure.

Monica Pacheco, a widow after her husband Manuel was among four people killed when they were washed off the Causeway at the height of Hurricane Fabian almost a year ago, told last year that she began work at the Mills Creek store in July but was not officially informed by company bosses that the store was closing.

The store reportedly closed just three days after her husband's death. At the time, she claimed she was owed thousands of dollars in unpaid wages.

There are, however, indications then that the family had been planning to pull up stakes and move to Canada months before the store shut for good.

One creditor said the couple was thought to have moved their children to school in Canada during the first half of the year. And a call to the Dwinnell home ? stately Hamilton parish house Callan Glen ? from around the time of the store's closure found that new tenants, who said the Dwinnell family were now living in Canada, were occupying the house.

It is not known who is living in Callan Glen now but court records from the trial listed the 194 North Shore address as Mr. Dwinnell's current place of residence.

The historic Bermuda house was reportedly up on the selling block last year for an asking price topping $2 million.

Calls to Robert Dwinnell yesterday for comment found that the number listed in the telephone directory was no longer in service.