Jury deliberations in Julia Rawson murder trial delayed due to illness
Jury deliberations on two men accused of murdering a woman at their "flat of horrors" in the Black Country have been delayed because one of the defendants is ill.
Coventry Crown Court was told Nathan Maynard-Ellis has been unable to speak to his lawyers since becoming unwell overnight.
A month-long trial has heard the body of Julia Rawson, 42, was cut into 11 pieces after she was lured to the home of horror film fan Maynard-Ellis and his boyfriend David Leesley in June last year.
Coverage of the trial:
Prosecutors allege the killing in Mission Drive, Dudley Port, in Tipton, was "the culmination of years of pent-up fantasy and desire" on the part of Maynard-Ellis, who had an obsession with serial killers.
Leesley, 25, and 30-year-old Maynard-Ellis both deny murder, while the older defendant also denies four rape charges relating to historical allegations made by a woman after his arrest.
Jurors in the case retired to consider verdicts on Thursday morning.
Adjourning the case on Friday, Mr Justice Soole told the jury panel: "We have received news this morning that the defendant Nathan Maynard-Ellis has been taken physically unwell overnight and is not able to attend court today. As a defendant he is entitled to be present.
"In light of that I have concluded that the just course is not for you to continue your deliberations, but to come back on Monday, by which time he hopefully will have recovered.
"That's the only fair course to take in these immediate circumstances."
