Roger Lightbourne Sr. was charged with murder and spent months in prison because a man made what a judge described as a "plainly false" statement implicating him in the St. David's case.

The charge was dropped, and Mr. Lightbourne set free, after investigators concluded that the would-be witness lied about seeing him attack murder victim Maxwell Brangman.

Darronte Dill — who was convicted yesterday of murdering both Mr. Brangman and his friend Frederick Gilbert — stood trial alone in the end. However, Dill's lawyer Anesta Weeks QC bemoaned the fact that the Police had other intelligence suggesting Mr. Lightbourne Sr.'s involvement in the crime — but no witnesses willing to make statements.

She said during her closing speech to the jury: "None of these people are going to come to court. Of course not, and they didn't, which is why it remains hearsay."

Mr. Lightbourne Sr., 42, was charged with murdering Mr. Brangman after Mr. X — whose true identity has been banned from publication — called Crimestoppers to say he'd seen him attacking the victim.

Mr. X later made Police statements giving descriptions of Mr. Lightbourne Sr. and an accomplice he could not identify. He also picked him out of a identification parade. Mr. Lightbourne Sr. was charged at Magistrates' Court on October 1, 2008, with murdering Mr. Brangman.

He was remanded into custody and remained there until he was released on bail on January 15 2009 when Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves granted him his freedom during a non-public hearing in chambers at the Supreme Court.

The murder charge was dropped by the Crown in Magistrates' Court a week later, with prosecutor Paula Tyndale telling the court the prosecution no longer considered it had valid evidence to support it.

Mr. Lightbourne had never had to enter a plea to the charge but had strenuously protested his innocence during his time in Police custody.

Dill's defence team made much of the allegations against Mr. Lightbourne Sr. during the trial, as Dill, 19, told the jury the older man was the true culprit and had confessed as much to him.

Ms Weeks pointed out Mr. Lightbourne Sr's nickname is "Mad Max" and he has a string of criminal convictions dating back 24 years for assault, wounding, escaping custody, assault with intent to rob, knife possession, robbery, theft and possession of a syringe.

Ms Weeks also quizzed Police Inspector Jerome Laws over intelligence reports he'd received about both Mr. Lightbourne Sr. and his son, Roger Lightbourne Jr. and their possible involvement in the murders.

Dill named Mr. Lightbourne Jr. as his accomplice during a conversation with Mr. Lightbourne Sr. in the Police cells. That conversation was taped by undercover Police officers — but Dill later refused to comment on who his accomplice was. He later claimed that the entirety of his confession to the crime was made up to take the rap for Mr. Lightbourne Sr., who he was in fear of.

Dill and the Lightbournes are alleged by prosecutors to be members of the Parkside Crew, although Dill denied his own involvement in that gang during the trial.

Questioning Inspector Laws during the court case, Ms Weeks established that he'd received intelligence in the aftermath of the double murder that Roger Lightbourne Jr. may have assaulted a man at a nightclub in St. George's hours before the murders.

Inspector Laws also agreed with Ms Weeks that the day after the double murder, he received information that the Lightbournes had attacked a homeless person in central Hamilton around two or three weeks prior.

Mr. Lightbourne Sr. was charged over that incident, but the charge was later dropped at court.

Inspector Laws got another tip-off from an informant that Roger Lightbourne Jr. was overheard outside someone's residence on the night of the killings saying "let's beat up the old man in St. David's".

Inspector Laws also learned from informants that victim Frederick Gilbert once "got into words" with the Lightbournes over them smoking drugs on the premises of St. David's Cricket Club, where Mr. Gilbert worked.

And, he said, a woman made an anonymous phone call to the Black Horse Tavern — near the crime scene — to say "Randy Lightbourne and Roger Lightbourne" killed Mr. Brangman. Randy Lightbourne is Roger Lightbourne's brother.

Inspector Laws also confirmed that in 2003, Frederick Gilbert was attacked and wounded. The suspect lived opposite the Police barracks in St. David's.

Inspector Laws could not remember if that suspect was one of the Lightbournes. The Lightbourne residence, which is opposite the barracks, was pointed out to the jury when they visited St. David's earlier this month.

Ms Weeks said during her closing speech: "It's a chilling aspect of this case. Many of those individuals who rang up and seem to have known who the killer was — nothing came of it. There's nothing we can do about that, members of the jury. It's a fact of life. Few people ever come forward to say what they know. This is a small community."

What the jury did not know was that Ms Weeks wanted the statement of Mr. X to be put before them as evidence for the defence. That was despite Inspector Laws telling the jury that Mr. X had been caught out getting a woman to make up fake evidence to corroborate his story. That made the Police believe he'd never seen the crime, and dismiss the idea that he should be a witness for the prosecution.

It's thought Mr. X lied in the hope of scoring a reward for a successful conviction, even though none was offered.

But during arguments in the absence of the jury — which could not be reported until now for legal reasons — Ms Weeks pointed out that Mr. X never retracted his statement about having seen Mr. Lightbourne Sr. involved in the killing.

For that reason, she said, she wanted the statement shown to the jury. To make her point, she played Chief Justice Richard Ground a taped interview that detectives conducted with Mr. X after his arrest for making false allegations.

In it, he said: "I know I was wrong for bringing the girl into it," but "what I saw, I saw".

Ms Weeks said she wanted Mr. X's original statement to be put before the jury to support her client's claim of innocence. However, she said, Mr. X was too scared to come to court in person to give evidence against Mr. Lightbourne Sr. and was in fear of his life due to Mr. Lightbourne's reputation for violence.

Prosecutors Carrington Mahoney and Rory Field strenuously objected to Mr. X's witness statements being put before the jury without him coming to court, as they would not be able to cross-examine him on his version of events.

They called Inspector Laws back to court, and he explained that Mr. X twice complained to the Police that he'd been threatened for assisting the murder inquiry but had refused to tell them who had threatened him, give a description or let the Police listen to what he said was an intimidating message on his phone.

Mr. Mahoney also pointed out that Mr X's claims about what he saw on the night of the murder were at odds with evidence in the case. And he claimed it would set a "dangerous precedent" if Mr. X was allowed to put his statement before the court without giving evidence in person.

Chief Justice Richard Ground agreed that this should not be allowed.

He remarked at one point: "Here is a man who not only tells a lie to the Police, but persuades a third party to join him in this. It's absolutely an attempt to pervert the course of justice and he succeeded in getting this woman to make a statement to the Police, statements they both signed…. he deliberately set about on a conscious course to pervert the course of justice. Now why should I give him any credence on anything at all?"

Rejecting the application by the defence, Mr. Justice Ground concluded his remarks by saying: "In all those circumstances I consider that this potential witness, Mr. X, is utterly and completely discredited. It's hard to put that in stronger terms."

Mr. Lightbourne Sr. was invited to comment on the issues outlined in this story, but declined to do so.