At just after mid-day Thursday 9th October 2014 former Cayman Islands Premier McKeeva Bush was found not guilty of the 11 counts of misconduct in public office and breach of the public’s trust charges he faced.

The jury of 7 members took only five hours to reach their decision that was unanimous.

It had been alleged Bush had spent almost $50,000 of public money – gambling at slot machines in the United States and the Bahamas between 2009 and 2010.

Bush had always said he was not guilty claiming it was a “witch hunt’ orchestrated by the former Governor, Duncan Taylor.

There was loud cheering after the judge, Michael Mettyear had left the courtroom. Earlier, when he was instructing the jury before they left to consider their verdict, he had said some of them might be surprised that a premier traveling abroad on business would “spend hours and hours on slot machines,” but their personal feelings toward gambling could not justify a conviction. They must deliver a ruling based solely on the evidence.

In a statement Bush said afterwards that the charges “were nothing more than the result of a conspiracy to remove me from power.” 

He also said he had been the subject of intense investigation during the last three years and the authorities had found nothing at all criminal, despite probing all of his financial affairs.

He also said mentioned the British naval vessel HMS Argyll that arrived in Cayman last week during his trial.

“Let us be mindful,” he said, “there is a warship stuck out there and I don’t think it is a coincidence. We must put an end to the police state that we are living in,”