TWO Chester police officers acted out of compassion rather than criminality when they failed to seize drugs from a stabbing victim, a court heard.

Constables Gareth Anthony James and Orren James Williams have both been cleared of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

They were also cleared of misconduct in public office, by allegedly arranging for the disposal of a substance, believed to be amphetamine.

After a week of legal argument in the absence of the jury at Mold Crown Court, prosecutor Duncan Bould offered no evidence against the officers on either count.

James, 28, formerly of Penygelli Road, Coedpoeth, Wrexham, but now of Buckley, and Williams, 26, of Pooltown Road, Ellesmere Port, left the court without commenting, apart from saying they were relieved at the decision and glad it was all over. The two officers, who have been suspended for 19 months over the issue, now face the prospect of internal discipline procedures.

But a senior officer with the Cheshire Police Federation said he hopes they will be back on duty within the next 24-48 hours.

The charges stemmed from an incident at the Countess of Chester Hospital on February 10 last year, when an Ellesmere Port man was admitted with stab wounds.

The officers were sent there to safeguard evidence, but the court heard claims that while in the treatment room awaiting surgery, the stabbed man allegedly passed a substance to his father.

This was spotted by a nurse who told one of the officers.

The father was taken to another room where he produced a small package of what was believed to be amphetamine, a class B drug, from his pocket.

But it was alleged that in the circumstances, with the father distraught at his son's condition, the officers did not seize it and instead flushed it down a sink.

The two officers were due to be tried on Monday, but this was delayed for legal abuse of process arguments.

Defence barristers Michael Byrne and James Rae said that when the officers gave their accounts to senior officers, they had been led to believe they would only face internal disciplinary action and not criminal charges.

The judge, Mr Recorder Nicholas Owen QC, rejected these submissions.

But he said he did not believe that, on the prosecution evidence, a jury would convict the officers of the charges.

The judge added that disciplinary procedures, the outcome of which could range from a reprimand to dismissal, will now follow.

Due to delays in the case and their motive which he accepted was one of compassion rather than criminality if the matter had been tried and the officers convicted, the judge would not have jailed them anyway.

He said there had been a delay at Chester Magistrates Court involving two other officers allegedly involved in the incident. Their cases were thrown out at committal stage.

Mr Bould said: 'It is an exceptional case and we reached the conclusion it was no longer in the public interest for criminal proceedings to continue.'