Jury discharged in trial of girl accused of trying to murder teachers and pupil (original) (raw)

The trial of a girl accused of trying to murder two teachers and a pupil at a Welsh school has been dramatically abandoned while the jury was considering its verdicts. The jurors trying the case have been discharged and a retrial will take place.

The girl - who cannot be named due to her age - was accused of the attempted murder of two teachers and a fellow pupil at in a multiple stabbing at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Ammanford in April this year. The teenage denied the attempted murder of Fiona Elias, Liz Hopkin and a schoolgirl in the incident but accepted three counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent and possession of an knife on school premises and was on trial at Swansea Crown Court.

All the evidence in the case had been heard and the jury was sitting in deliberation when on Wednesday morning Judge Paul Thomas KC told jurors he would have to discharge them "with great reluctance" due to "a great irregularity in the jury which we all agree has irretrievably compromised our ability to consider this matter." He said it was "very unsatisfactory to discharge the jury, especially for [the defendant] who will have to stand trial again".

A retrial will take place on January 27 next year.

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