Standing trial for five years is a traumatic experience for anyone, especially if you are innocent — but Shawn Blunden treated it like a business transaction and before heading to court one last time on Thursday, he promised his wife and children that he would be acquitted by noon.

Though he cannot celebrate the way he had planned — with a whisky in hand — the former co-owner of Blunden Coach Tours said with the words “not guilty” it felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders...