FIVE police officers will not be charged over a £5 million murder trial involving a Walkden man, which collapsed after a detective was accused of withholding evidence.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said there was not enough evidence to charge the Greater Manchester Police officers.

But the IPCC added that four of the officers could still be disciplined by GMP. Six men were accused of killing David Barnshaw, who was kidnapped, beaten and set on fire in Stockport in 1999. One of the men was 32-year-old Denis Burgess, from Walkden.

In a statement, an IPCC spokesman said: "Naseem Malik, IPCC Commissioner for the North-west, will now discuss with Greater Manchester Police what, if any, disciplinary action the four officers still serving should face."

The murder trial ended in June, 2003, when Mr Justice Penry-Davey said Det Ch Insp Kenny Caldwell had deliberately taken documents from a file which pointed to an alternative suspect.

Mr Caldwell was allowed to retire in October, 2003, during the early stages of the Lancashire Police investigation for the IPCC.

The High Court later ruled that GMP had broken the law in allowing him to retire.

Burgess, along with Arran Coghlan, aged 31, of Alderley Edge, Cheshire, and Stockport men Philip Moore, aged 40, Stephen Beddows, aged 29, Paul Johnson, aged 26, and Neil Grice, aged 23, were acquitted of murder. Drug dealer Mr Barnshaw had been forced to drink petrol, put into a car boot and set alight.