The jury has failed to reach a verdict in the trial in England of a man accused of the manslaughter of an Irish man following a street fight they had in the early hours.
Kevin Kelly (27), from Goresbridge, Co Kilkenny, fell face down on the ground during the incident in Luton on May 1st, 2016.
Richard Wood (24), who was accused of throwing the punch, pleaded not guilty to a charge of manslaughter at Luton Crown Court.
On Friday after the jury had spent 12 hours considering its verdict, Judge Michael Kay QC brought them back to ask them, if given more time, was there a reasonable chance they could bring in a verdict.
When the foreman said there wasn’t the judge said he would discharge them from continuing with their deliberations.
The prosecution then announced it would be seeking a retrial for the man accused of the manslaughter.
The retrial will take place in January 2018.
Fight
Mr Kelly had just come out of a nightclub in the town and was making his way home along Upper George Street at about 5am when he got into a fight with Mr Wood who was coming in the opposite direction.
The jury was told Mr Kelly, a father of one who ran his own plastering company, died as a result of a sub-arachnoid haemorrhage – a bleed on his brain caused by damage to a his vertebral artery which is found in the back of the neck at the base of the skull.
Mr Wood told the court how he had struck the blow to Mr Kelly as he defended himself. He said it was Mr Kelly who had started the fight.