Conspiracy to murder charges against the family of slain Haxby man Geoffrey Leeming were today sensationally thrown out of court.

Stipendiary magistrate Guy Hodgson said the police and prosecutors who brought Jackie Leeming, 55, and her children Stephen, 33, and Jayne, 30, to court on charges of conspiring to kill the former soldier did so on the basis of "suspicions" only - and had no real evidence.

But all three family members, together with Malcolm Herbert, 37, company secretary of Leeming Drains Ltd, the family firm, will stand jury trial on a charge of fraudulent trading involving the company.

Today Mr Hodgson said he had very carefully considered the evidence from witnesses and from hundreds of pages of statements and exhibits submitted by the Crown Prosecution Service.

He said the prosecution case was that the family had hired a contract killer to murder Geoffrey Leeming because they had money problems.

"The police certainly hold that view, the view that this was carefully planned with the killer, because of the layout of the bungalow."

But he added: "I keep coming back to the view, and perhaps initially it is right to say it was a gut feeling, that on careful reflection the case rests not on evidence but purely on supposition and suspicion.

"The only certain piece of evidence brought forward was that Mr Leeming was brutally killed in that garage with a knife."

He said he had come to the conclusion that after hours of investigation the police still did not know who killed Mr Leeming and had arrived at court with "nothing apart from a theory and nothing to support their supposition.

"The police are no nearer solving the investigation than they were at the beginning," he added. "The prosecution cannot, in my mind, establish by the evidence that there is a reasonable possibility the family were conspirators.

"They cannot, in my mind, establish that the family agreed for their father to be killed and that each of the three remaining defendants was a party to such an agreement."

Herbert was charged in February with conspiracy to murder, but the prosecution conceded during the five-day committal hearing there was no case to answer.

Jackie Leeming, of Plainville Lane, Wigginton and Stephen Leeming, formerly of Stockton-on-the-Forest initially contested committal on the fraud charge, but later conceded, and Herbert, of Stray Lane, Heworth did not contest it.

Jayne Leeming of Plainville Lane, Wigginton, contested it throughout.

But the magistrate said that there was sufficient evidence against all three of the Leeming family that they were "dipping into the finances of this ailing company to support a reasonable lifestyle."

All four defendants were today committed for trial on the fraud charge.

The decision on the conspiracy to murder charge comes a year and a week after the three members of the Leeming family were arrested accused of conspiring to kill. Herbert was arrested at the same time on fraud allegations and court proceedings began a couple of days later.

Since last July there have been several hearings at York Magistrates Court culminating in the five-day committal hearing which started on Monday.

Unlike most committals, witnesses including the senior investigating officer of the inquiry Det Chief Inspector John Lacey gave evidence.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: "We are not in any position to make a comment as there are still outstanding charges to be answered."

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