Dunne not guilty of raiding building society

A man, formerly from Dublin, walked free from Birmingham Crown Court yesterday after he was found not guilty of raiding a Birmingham…

A man, formerly from Dublin, walked free from Birmingham Crown Court yesterday after he was found not guilty of raiding a Birmingham building society.

Mr Larry Dunne (50) had been accused of robbery, having a firearm with intent and attempted wounding with intent.

The jury returned its unanimous verdict of not guilty on all three counts.

It had considered its verdict overnight after it was sent out yesterday afternoon.

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It had earlier been told by Mr Michael Perk, defending, that there was not a "shred of evidence against his client".

The prosecution had claimed Mr Dunne carried out a robbery at the Erdington branch of the Bradford and Bingley Building Society in May last year with another man.

Mr Dunne was accused of shooting at the manager, Mr George Palmer, with a pistol before escaping in a stolen getaway car with about £800.

The court heard Mr Palmer picked out Mr Dunne in an identity parade, but Mr Perk said: "It is not possible for you to judge how good someone is at recognition. How are you able to judge the quality of anyone's recognition?

"Mr Palmer is an honest man and has been telling you his honest account. The danger is he is wrong. He is telling you the truth, or so he believes. If he was someone who was shifty it would be easy to reject his evidence.

"Look at the circumstances that Mr Palmer had for making his observations. He had never seen the gunman before. He sees him running towards him and sees a gun. He says he was more focused on the gun, which is no surprise."

Det Const Jeremy Sumner, of Queens Road police in Birmingham, said: "We are not looking any further for someone else in this crime. However, we are disappointed with the outcome. We already have one person convicted for this crime and we can be thankful for that."