The only person to be charged with one of Britain’s largest bank robberies walked free in Belfast yesterday when the prosecution abandoned its case against him, the third such failure for the police and Public Prosecution Service in less than a year.

As friends and family of Chris Ward applauded in court, his lawyer criticised the authorities for running a “Kafka-esque farce”.

Mr Ward, 26, was one of two employees of Northern Bank whose families were held hostage on December 20, 2004, while they were forced to go to the bank and load £26.5 million into the robbers’ van.

Police blamed the Provisional IRA for the raid, a claim endorsed by the British and Irish governments. The IRA denied involvement and Sinn Fein, its political wing, accepted the denial.

The collapse of the Crown case against Mr Ward makes it the third significant investigation in which the police have failed to secure convictions. Prosecutions over the Omagh bombing and the murder of Robert McCartney were also unsuccessful.

Mr Ward was acquitted after Mr Justice Richard McLaughlin at Belfast Crown Court described a central pillar of the indictment as “coincidence and chance”.

Niall Murphy, Mr Ward’s solicitor, said: “Mr Ward has been rescued from the appalling vista of a miscarriage of justice but there is no guarantee that this will prevail on every occasion. There must be a root-and-branch analysis of how some high-profile criminal cases are prosecuted.”

He said that millions of pounds had been spent on building the case against his client. The prosecution service declined to comment on the cost, saying it was not an easy question to answer.

Mr Murphy said the “Kafka-esque farce”, which temporarily derailed Northern Ireland’s long road out of violence to the return of the Stormont government, had begun with the premise that Mr Ward was guilty and worked backwards.

“From the outset Chris Ward was denied the presumption of innocence,” he said. “It is a regrettable fact that in this society, the mere fact that Chris Ward was a Catholic from Poleglass and charged with this offence was enough to seal his guilt in the eyes of some people.”

Poleglass is a predominantly nationalist housing estate in west Belfast.

Asked about possible legal action, Mr Murphy said: “We are going to reflect upon the comments of the judge and make an informed decision.” He confirmed, however, that Mr Ward would pursue an action against Northern Bank for unlawful dismissal.

The trial, which started on September 9, heard that the families of Mr Ward and a fellow bank worker, Kevin McMullan, were held hostage in their homes in west Belfast and Co Down while the two men, key-holders for the bank’s vaults, went to work. They handed over the money to the robbers in trolley-loads, fearing for their families’ lives.

The prosecution’s case was based on the defendant’s alleged role in altering a staff rota for the late shift at the Northern Bank on the day of the robbery. But it emerged during the trial that other employees had been central to the rota changes, which prompted a rethink by Sir Alasdair Fraser, the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The judge said: “Given the decision to present no further evidence, I could not arrive at any other verdict and I conclude that Chris Ward is not guilty of the three counts in front of me.”

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