A man accused of being involved in the management of a club where a "blind eye" was turned to the use of drugs has been cleared.

David Mallin, 23, was accused of permitting the New Monkey Club in Sunderland to be used for the supply of ecstasy and for smoking cannabis.

But on the on the direction of Judge Beatrice Bolton jurors at Newcastle Crown Court entered a not guilty verdict on both counts.

Mallin jnr was one of three men accused of being involved in the running of the club in Pallion Road, Sunderland.

His father David Mallin, 45, and Graham Brown, 45, are still on trial accused of allowing drugs to be sold and taken in the premises.

Mallin snr yesterday told the court he had stopped playing an active role in the club after he was badly injured in an accident abroad in 2004.

He said after the lease was signed over to Brown in 2004 he still played a part in the administration and received takings from the sale of cds but was not in a hands-on managerial role.

Brown told jurors yesterday how clubbers were searched and observed in the club in a bid to keep drugs out of the premises.

He said he had a "zero tolerance" attitute towards dealing.

And when asked if there was anything else he could do to better police the situation inside the club Brown said; "If I thought of anything I would have told my staff what to do. We tried every single thing i thought was by the law to do. I could not do any more."

Brown said it was impossible to see exactly what was going on inside the club because of the lighting and smoke effects.

The court heard in January 2006 police launched a three month undercover operation to target dealers inside the club.

As a result 10 people have already been convicted of drug dealing offences.

The club was shut down after a police raid in the early hours of March 2006.

Mallin snr, of Dykelands Road, Sunderland, and Brown, of Atkinson Road, Sunderland, deny permitting the premies to be used for supplying ecstasy and smoking cannabis between January and March 2006.

The trial continues.