Puff Daddy cleared of gun and bribery charges

Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs has been acquitted of bringing an illegal handgun into a crowded Manhattan nightclub.

Combs was also cleared of a bribery charge by the New York jury.

His bodyguard, Anthony "Wolf" Jones, has been acquitted of the same charges.

Rapper Jamaal "Shyne" Barrow, a Combs protege who had been charged with attempted murder, was instead convicted of two counts of assault in connection with the shooting of two people in the club.

The charges followed a scuffle involving the Combs entourage in the early hours of December 27, 1999.

The high-profile trial stretched nearly seven weeks, with jurors hearing from 59 witnesses and examining more than 130 pieces of evidence.

Combs was the key defence witness, spending a full day testifying that he never carried a weapon on the night of his arrest and instead thought he was the target.

"I thought I was being shot at," Combs told the jury.

He also denied offering his driver a $50,000 (£33,000) bribe if the man would admit the gun possession charge for Combs.

Prosecutors said the collateral Combs offered was a diamond pinkie ring given to him by ex-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez, the top-selling singer-musician.

The driver, Wardel Fenderson, told the jury that Combs tucked a black handgun into his waistband before heading over with Lopez to the hip-hop hotspot Club New York.