Clapping and cheering broke out in a Belfast court yesterday when a man who had been charged with murder was freed.
Mr Thomas Allsop (45), from Grainne House, in the city's New Lodge area, had spent five months in custody accused of murdering Mr Charles Bennett last July.
The execution-style killing was blamed on the IRA and called its ceasefire into question.
At the Magistrates Court the charge against Mr Allsop was withdrawn without any explanation and this led to an outburst of clapping and cheering by a group of relatives and friends.
Outside the court, Mr Allsop said: "I should not have been in there right from the start for I had nothing to do with the murder. Now I am going home to enjoy myself with the rest of the family and I will have a good Christmas."
