JURORS will not deliver their verdict in the airfield attempted murder trial until Monday at the earliest. 

Hospital security guard Jack Crawley is accused of hitting the alleged victim with a hammer at the former RAF Acaster Malbis base south of York after taking him there for a sexual encounter in January.

He was on bail at the time accused of killing hospital catering manager Paul Taylor, 56.

Crawley, 20, has admitted the manslaughter of Mr Taylor on October 18 last year. He denies murdering him. He also denies attempting to murder the first man.

The jury in the trial at Carlisle Crown Court first retired to consider their verdicts on Wednesday afternoon.  They were out all yesterday and have yet to reach their verdicts.

When he sent them home  The Honourable Mr Justice Goose, told the jury of six men and six women that they must return to court on Monday morning to continue with their deliberations. They are not sitting today or tomorrow.

Crawley claims he was working for a London based crime gang, whose bosses forced him to commit crimes at the time Mr Taylor died, on October 17 last year.

He told the jury that he only ever intended to steal Mr Taylor’s Vauxhall Corsa but he never intended to kill him. Mr Taylor, a catering manager at Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary, was fatally injured when he fell during a struggle, said Crawley.

His denial of attempting to murder a man near York on January 5 is based on his assertion that he acted in self-defence when threatened with a knife.

RECOMMENDED READING

Crawley (pictured below)  also denies a second charge – an alternative to the attempted murder allegation – that he intentionally inflicted grievous bodily harm on the man he hit with a hammer in the York incident.(Image: Web)

Co-defendant Marcus Goodfellow, 20, of Greystone Road, Carlisle, denies “assisting" Crawley by helping to dispose of Mr Taylor’s car while knowing the vehicle belonged to a person who was unlawfully killed.

He told the jury he had no knowledge of what happened to Mr Taylor when he travelled with Crawley in the Vauxhall Corsa on October 19 to Langwathby. Both men worked as security guards at The Cumberland Infirmary.

Goodfellow, of Greystone Road, Carlisle, has been on bail while Crawley, of Sheehan Crescent, Carlisle, has been remanded in custody throughout the trial.