A MAN accused of carrying out a knifepoint robbery at a village store has been formally cleared of the charge.

Kevin Lee was arrested after the raid at the Premier convenience store, also known as Somal News, in Grange Villa, near Chester-le-Street, at about 4.45pm, on Sunday July 30 last year.

The robber, carrying what was described as a mini meat cleaver, made off with an estimated £1,200 from the store.

Appearing at Durham Crown Court, last August, Lee, 31, of Albert Street, Grange Villa, denied robbery.

Identity was to be the issue in the case, and a trial was set for this month.

But, following the opening day of the trial, after legal submissions over the Crown’s failure to disclose cctv footage from the shop to the defence, the jury returned a formal not guilty verdict, on Recorder Neil Barker’s direction.

Lee, however, was given a five-month prison sentence, with an 18-month motoring disqualification, after admitting a separate charge of dangerous driving, with no licence or insurance, on the A6076 Stanley to Gateshead road, on March 21 last year.