A policeman who was on suspension for eight years waiting for the murder case against him to be disposed of, was freed yesterday after the Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to proceed with his third trial.

Lester Grant, 29, had four years service in the police force and was stationed at the Hunts Bay Police Station when he was charged with murder. Bertland Morrison, 23, of Rome Avenue, Independence City, was fatally shot on Henderson Drive, Independence City, on April 26, 1998 and Grant was charged with murder.

Grant, who was represented by attorney-at-law Valerie Neita-Robertson, was facing his third trial because the jury failed to arrive at a unanimous decision at two previous trials.

When the case was mentioned yesterday in the Home Circuit Court, Caroline Williamson-Hay, acting deputy director of Public Prosecutions, told Ms. Justice Kay Beckford that the DPP was entering a nolle prosequi. She said some of the Crown witnesses were abroad and self defence had arisen at a previous trial in the Crown's case and could have arisen again.