Chris Messer could return to Saint John police by May 10

A Saint John police officer who spent time in jail for common assault could be back on the job in a matter of days.

Four months after a judge stayed all charges against Chris Messer, his union has reached a tentative deal to end his suspension without pay, and put him to work on May 10.  

"This has been a long, drawn-out issue," said Sgt. Jeff LaFrance, president of the Saint John Police Association.  "I'm very glad to see it come to an end, a very positive end."

Messer's ordeal began in 2010, with a break and enter at his home. 

From the day of our house being broken into, that's such a violation of your privacy.- Sarah Messer

Three weeks later, a hail of bullets pierced his walls in a drive-by shooting.   

The Crown would come to accuse Messer of seeking vigilante justice.

The theory went that he had acted improperly as a police officer by questioning and handling suspects in crimes where Messer was also the victim.

One suspect said Messer threatened him. He later admitted to making false statements.

A second suspect laid a complaint that Messer had hit him. 

"There are a number of problems with a police officer conducting an investigation of a crime committed against himself and his family," wrote Justice Hugh McLellan in a 2012 decision that convicted Messer of common assault.

The case went to appeal and the assault conviction was quashed.  

A new trial was ordered but it never happened.   

In January, Justice Judy Clendening stayed all charges, citing unreasonable delays by the prosecution and a failure to produce court-ordered documents to the defence.  

She also called the Crown's behaviour "troubling."

In a February interview with the CBC, Messer said the four-year ordeal nearly ruined him financially.

His wife, Sarah, said words could not describe the stress and trauma. "From the day of our house being broken into, that's such a violation of your privacy," she said. 

"Then three weeks later, to be targeted and bombarded with bullets shot through your house," and still, she said, she had no closure.

LaFrance says police conducted a thorough investigation into the whole matter.

"And at this time the issue with regards to the shooting of his home and so on, is in the hands of the Crown now, to approve the charges," he said Thursday. "So there are charges there."