The jury has been discharged in the trial of a man who was accused of biting and beating his model ex-partner at his West London flat.
The jury, sitting at the City Nightingale Crown Court in Holborn, Central London, were discharged today (Friday, March 15) after they were unable to reach a verdict in the trial of Ricky Lawrence, 32.
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They had spent six hours and seven minutes considering their decision. The prosecution has yet to confirm if there will be a retrial.
Lawrence denied a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm to Instagram influencer Chloe Othen, 33, in the early hours of October 15, 2022.
In releasing the jury, Judge Noel Casey told them: “Thank you for trying. Thank you for all the time you have given to this case.”
He said that situations involving a hung jury can happen “from time to time and a juror is entitled to whatever their own view is of the case you are discharged from your deliberations.”
Ms Othen had claimed she was punched in the head 30 times, strangled and dragged along the floor by her hair by the defendant.
She had also accused Lawrence of biting her, taking her phone and stopping her from leaving his flat in Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge.
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