An American tourist caught with 11 bullets in her luggage as she left Bermuda saw her name cleared by a Magistrate yesterday.

An emotional Lucy Stackler, 67, said after the verdict: "I'm overwhelmed. I'm relieved. I was treated fairly by everybody. By law enforcement and in every place."

An x-ray machine operator spotted the ammunition in the rear pocket of Mrs. Stackler's carry-on case as she was about to board a JetBlue flight home to New York on September 27.

Her trial heard how she reacted with shock and emotion to the discovery, telling the Police she'd put the bullets in the case back in May of this year, then forgotten all about them.

Mrs. Stackler explained that her husband, Walter Stackler, 73, owns guns and has a firing range in the basement of their home in Oyster Bay, New York. She told the Police that her handyman was moving some furniture out of her basement in May when he knocked a box over and the bullets spilled onto the ground.

She told detectives she put the bullets into a bag and then into a zipped compartment of her carry-on case as it was "not appropriate" for the handyman to see them. She did not mention the incident to anyone, and forgot all about it until the discovery at the airport.

The bullets were not found when she travelled to Bermuda four days earlier, despite what she described as two "careful" searches of her luggage at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. She said her bag was not searched when she arrived in Bermuda. She and her husband were both arrested after the find and spent three days in custody, although Mr. Stackler was not charged.

Mrs. Stackler stressed during her three-day trial that she had no intention to bring the illegal items to Bermuda, protesting: "If I had remembered I had put them in there, I never would have brought them here. I'm not that crazy. Never in a million years."

Her lawyer, Saul Froomkin QC, argued yesterday that the prosecution had to prove Mrs. Stackler intended to possess the bullets in Bermuda, and that there was no evidence of this. He also argued that forgetfulness can be a defence in exceptional circumstances.

Earlier in the case, he had also asked the Magistrate to consider Mrs. Stackler's age, and the fact that she wears a pacemaker and has serious medical issues. He also protested that cases of people being found with bullets as they are leaving the Island are not worth the time and money it takes to prosecute them.

However, prosecutor Cindy Clarke argued that forgetfulness is not a defence and the evidence demonstrated that either Mrs. Stackler knew the bullets were in her case, or should have known they were in there. If convicted she could have faced up to five years in jail and/or a $10,000 fine.

Finding in favour of Mrs. Stackler and clearing her name yesterday afternoon, Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner ordered that the bullets be destroyed and Mrs. Stackler be given her suitcase and travel documents back.

She and her husband plan to fly home today. They have friends in Bermuda and have visited on at least 20 occasions before. Their latest vacation was at the Mid Ocean Club, where they joined a group of people from the US participating in a golf tournament. Asked if her ordeal will put her and her husband off coming back, she replied: "It's too soon to tell."

Mrs. Stackler's friends flew in from as far afield as Rome and her home state of New York to testify to her good character during the trial. Of this, she said: "I had wonderful support from all over the world."

Jack Wahl, a friend of the couple who lives in Pembroke, testified to Mrs. Stackler's good character during the trial. Greeting the news of her acquittal, the 85-year-old told The Royal Gazette the case should never have been brought to court.

"Why worry about bullets going back to the US? Like I said in the courtroom, you can buy as many bullets as you want in the store there. I think this will leave a very sour taste in their mouths as well as perhaps in others," he remarked.