Beware the Catapult

File picture of the catapult in action.

CNN

LONDON, England -- The operators of a human catapult that hurled a British student to his death have been cleared of manslaughter charges.

At the end of a two-week trial in Bristol, southwest England, Judge Heather Hallett on Friday directed a jury to return not guilty verdicts on Richard Wicks and David Aitkenhead.

She had told jurors there was insufficient evidence to convict the two men of unlawfully killing Kostadin Yankov by being grossly negligent.

Yankov, 19, a first-year student at Oxford University, was supposed to land in a net. However, he flew over it, hit the ground and died during the stunt on November 24, 2002.

The defendants had designed, built and operated the large catapult in the town of Bridgwater. Both denied manslaughter.

It had been alleged that they had failed to respond to warnings and indications that something was "seriously wrong" with the device on the day of the death.

The jury had heard that the operators had used a new, untested sling that day and those using it before Yankov had landed "off center" of the net.

Witnesses had describing seeing people, some in fancy dress, being thrown 30 meters (100 feet) through the air and landing too close to the net's edge.