A not-guilty verdict was reached by an Isle of Wight jury, as the the long-running Scott Cooper murder trial ended this week.
Here, the Isle of Wight County Press looks back at what was said in court.
Piers Brazier, of George Street, Ryde, had been accused of — but always denied — murdering 33-year-old Scott Edward Cooper in a property on George Street.
On Thursday, January 5, after a three-week long trial, members of the jury reached the unanimous verdict of not guilty.
It was the second time Mr Brazier had had to stand trial over the death of Mr Cooper.
What do we know about the death of Scott Cooper?
On January 4 of last year, Scott Cooper's body was found in Mr Brazier's flat, and three days later, police named the deceased and informed his next of kin.
A post-mortem revealed Mr Cooper had suffered more than 20 injuries, ranging from stab wounds to grazes.
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Three were stab wounds to his neck; among them, the principal injury, which would have proved rapidly fatal.
Police had attended Mr Brazier's address twice — the first time at around 2.50am, acting on information that there had been a domestic complaint.
Not looking for a body at this stage, officers did not look behind the closed shower curtain.
When one noticed a speck of blood on Mr Brazier's hand, they accepted what he told them — that he had suffered a nose bleed earlier in the day.
Following further calls to police, officers attended the address a second time at approximately 12.48pm.
They soon discovered the body of Mr Cooper, upside down in a shower cubicle.
The circumstances surrounding the police response to the incident was subsequently referred to an independent watchdog.
What did the defence argue?
Closing the defence case, Ignatius Hughes said many of the witnesses didn’t tell the truth, or were unwilling to, including another male, who he said murdered Mr Cooper in a characteristic outburst of explosive violence.
Mr Hughes said there were of course bit-players in this tale, but it was a two-horse race between Mr Brazier and this other man, and the latter won hands down on motive and character.
The court heard there was an 89-second window in which this other man could have murdered Mr Cooper.
Mr Hughes said the jury didn’t need an expert to tell them a frenzied attack could take less than a second per stab, and logic told them this other male killed Mr Cooper — not Mr Brazier.
He described Mr Brazier as a common, broken-down drug addict who barely ate or slept — not a vicious killer.
What did the prosecution say?
In her closing speech to the jury, prosecutor Joanna Martin said Mr Brazier made up lies both in police interview and during the trial, and his evidence was confusing and ever-changing.
She said he was a manipulative liar who concocted a false defence, knowing no one was going to believe he acted in self-defence with the number of stab wounds inflicted.
She told members of the jury he sought to portray himself as a harmless drug addict to be pitied, doing everything he could to cover up and get away with the murder.
As part of their investigation, police arrested multiple men on suspicion of murder, and conspiracy to murder, but Mr Brazier was the only one to be charged.
In the wake of the verdict, detective chief inspector Adam Edwards said: “We are disappointed by today’s verdict, however, we must respect the jury’s decision.
“We hope that the public remain reassured that we will always do everything in our power to investigate incidents such as these thoroughly, to support the families of victims, and to protect the wider public.
“Our thoughts remain with Scott’s family and friends.”
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