A JURY will return on Friday (May 23) to consider its deliberations in the trial of a man accused of a grandmother's murder.

Christian Darko, 41, who is originally from Ghana, denies murdering Rose Doughty, but has admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

He is alleged to have stabbed and strangled the 72-year-old at her flat in Fosdyke Green, Netherfields, Middlesbrough, on November 23 last year.

The defendant, who lived directly above Mrs Doughty, is then said to have returned to steal £30 cash from the flat which he spent on cigarettes and lottery tickets.

The jury deliberated for about an hour and-a-half after being sent out on Thursday afternoon by trial judge Mr Justice Walker, but were unable to return a verdict in that time.