afternoon after a jury took a little over two hours to return three unanimous not guilty verdicts to the charges she faced.

Burgess 20, of Westwood Lane, Pembroke, was alleged to have possessed heroin, supplied the drug and handled it with intent to supply between May 12 and August 31, 1995.

Former Supreme Court clerk Shawn Crockwell stole the heroin from the court after Jeffrey Kwasi Osborne was acquitted of importing the drugs into Bermuda.

He testified Burgess was present on at least one of the occasions that he had transferred the drug to Komeiko Steede, Burgess' sister.

Crockwell had said Burgess had driven Steede to the Elbow Beach parking lot and he gave Steede the drugs so that she could sell them.

However Steede, who is Burgess' sister, said Burgess was not with her although on one occasion she handed her sister a package soon after receiving it from Crockwell but instructed (Burgess) not to open it.

Nevertheless she said that although Burgess had placed the drugs in a safe place, a portion of the cache went missing and its whereabouts was never ascertained.

Her lawyer Archie Warner characterised Steede and Crockwell as boldfaced liars who had lied to Police in their statements and had given contradictory versions of the same story when cross examined during the trial.

Consequently, he said, nothing that they said could be believed. Furthermore he pointed to the substantial reductions Crockwell and Steede received for promising to testify against Burgess. Crockwell was sentenced to ten years in prison and Steede received three years.

Mr. Warner said both convicts had to create a link between Burgess and the drugs in order to justify their "cooperation''.

That would explain why Crockwell was at pains to place Burgess at the scene when he gave just under half of the heroin to Steede to sell.

Similarly, he said Steede made up the story about the missing drugs to give her sister a role in the sordid affair.

However, while Crockwell made about $24,000 from the sale of a portion of the heroin, Steede made $30,000 which she never shared with Crockwell. She said she used the money to pay bills and make loans to friends.

In the end the jury accepted Mr. Warner's characterisation of Steede and Crockwell -- the main Crown witnesses against Burgess -- and acquitted her of all charges.

The panel began deliberating at 11.40 a.m. and returned at 2 p.m. with the unanimous not guilty verdicts.