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Man found not guilty of SPAR burglary

Tue, 07 Jul 2015

A man accused of burgling a SPAR shop, stealing over £2,400 worth of goods, has been found not guilty due to insufficient evidence against him.

39-year-old Michael Bergquist appeared at Douglas Courthouse today to stand trial - he'd previously denied one count of burglary from May 6th last year.

It was alleged he'd used a screwdriver to break into the shop on Castle Mona Colonnade, just after 3.30am, before stealing mobile phone top-up cards, cash and scratch cards valued at £2,485.

A jury was sworn in this morning and viewed CCTV footage which showed a person in dark clothing, with their face obscured, breaking into the shop and ransacking the safe and till area.

A screwdriver, which was found at the scene, was forensically examined and showed DNA from at least three contributors including Bergquist.

However the jury was told this only showed he'd handled it at some point and could not indicate when that was.

Presiding over the case Deemster Montgomerie ruled there was no charge to answer telling the jury there was "insufficient evidence" and ordered them to return a "not-guilty" verdict.

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