THE man cleared in the body-in-the-sewer trial of shooting a driving
instructor through the head in a crowded Blantyre pub has been jailed
for five years for threatening a bar manager with a shotgun.
Robert Allan, 23, was convicted by a majority verdict at the High
Court in Airdrie, three months after being acquitted of murdering
driving instructor George Hall.
The shotgun incident took place just five days after Mr Hall's badly
decomposed body had been found in the sewage treatment works at
Bothwell, Lanarkshire.
Allan, of Millgate Road, Hamilton, was found guilty of assaulting
William Charnley, manager of Bertie's Bar, in High Street, Airdrie, on
January 10 this year by presenting a shotgun at him and threatening him.
He was also convicted of brandishing the weapon, threatening to shoot
customers and committing a breach of the peace.
The court heard that Allan and another man went into Mr Charnley's
office behind the bar after asking if they could have a word with him.
In the office Allan produced the gun and the manager was allegedly
told: ''You're getting it.''
The two men then left the office and as they backed out of the bar
Allan waved the shotgun, causing customers to dive under tables for
cover.
Lord Milligan jailed him for five years, adding another month because
the offences were committed while Allan was on bail.
George Hall was shot through the head at close range in Cobbler's Bar
Blantyre on October 9 last year. His body was mutilated, dumped in the
local sewage system and not discovered until the January this year.
Four people went on trial charged with his murder -- his wife
Jacqueline Hall, her lover George Carlin, Robert Allan and James
Nicholas.
During the trial Carlin admitted organising the murder and claimed
that Allan was the man who had agreed to pull the trigger.
Carlin was jailed for life. The Crown accepted Mrs Hall's not guilty
plea and Nicholas was sentenced to five years for helping to burn the
body, hack off the forearms and dump it in the sewage system.
Allan walked free after Lord Caplan, the trial Judge at the High Court
in Edinburgh, ruled that there was not enough evidence to convict him.
Lord Caplan told the jury that there was no corroboration of Carlin's
evidence that he had arranged for Allan to carry out Mr Hall's killing.
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