A man has been cleared of an assassination bid.

Ricky Valentine, 20, was alleged to have shot Craig Mulheron twice at close range after crashing through his front door.

But the Crown offered no evidence against Mr Valentine at the Old Bailey in London in respect of the single charge of attempted murder.

Mr Valentine, of Norfolk Square, Bognor, had denied the charge.

The decision to drop the charge was made after an important prosecution witness - Mr Mulheron's girlfriend, Katie McDermott - showed a "history of reluctance to give evidence".

At the centre of the case was an allegation that she had been involved in an affair with a brother of Mr Valentine.

Various threats allegedly followed and on June 12 last year two men forced their way into Mr Mulheron's home in Fenner Close, Rotherhithe, London and shot him twice at point-blank range.

He survived despite being hit in the face and shoulder.

But Miss McDermott indicated in April that she wished to withdraw her statement because, said James Dawson, prosecuting, "she felt uncomfortable and uncertain about the evidence she was going to give in the trial."

He said the only proper decision was to offer no evidence.

The Common Serjeant of London, Judge Neil Denison, said: "In view of what I have been told, that is the right course to take in this case."