A man who faced charges of intent to supply heroin and crack cocaine has been found not guilty after a jury was locked in stalemate.
Francie James Keating, 40, of Bangor Crescent, Prestatyn , had been charged with two counts of possession with intent to supply class A drugs.
The jury of six men and six women at Mold Crown Court sat for three hours and 11 minutes without being able to reach a majority 10-2 verdict.
The Crown Prosecution Service advised Judge Niclas Parry that they would not be seeking a retrial and Mr Keating was formally handed a not guilty verdict.
The accused, who admitted being a heroin and crack cocaine user, said it was his ex-partner Shereen Nicola Kelly, 40, of Ffordd Marian, Gronant, who owned drugs found in his car after a crash in Prestatyn on January 6, 2017.
At the start of the trial, Kelly admitted two lesser counts of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.
The drugs were found in the footwells of Mr Keating’s car after the crash on Gronant Road last year.
He was travelling towards his home when he lost control of his Honda Civic and slammed into a tree, leaving him with multiple fractures and Kelly trapped in the vehicle.
Emergency services rushed to the scene to find Mr Keating wrapped in a blanket outside the car and his then partner trapped in the passenger seat.
He told the court he suffered a broken collar bone, broken kneecap, cracked ribs and shoulder – and had to be brought back to life with ephedrine after his heart stopped.
Cops attending the crash found 52 wraps of crack cocaine and 38 wraps of heroin worth a total of £900 in two Kinder eggs.
He denied any knowledge of the drugs in the Kinder eggs, but police alleged he had 26 wraps worth of cocaine in his trouser pocket and £200 in cash.
Mr Keating said this was not true and he was carrying £100 worth of crack cocaine and £100 worth of heroin for personal use in two lumps in the waistband of his trousers.
Neither these nor his clothes were recovered and there was no forensic evidence linking Keating or Kelly with the drugs in the Kinder eggs.
Kelly will be sentenced on August 22 after the completion of pre-sentence reports by the probation service.
