Ammanford school stabbing juror in court over trial collapse
A juror accused of causing the collapse of a trial into a triple school stabbing has appeared in court.Last month, a teenage girl was sentenced to 15 years for the attempted murder of two teachers and a pupil at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, Carmarthenshire, following a retrial.Christopher Elias, 45, of Waunceirch, Neath Port Talbot, has been charged with refusing to answer a question relating to the qualification to serve on a jury.He appeared at Swansea Magistrates' Court on Wednesday and he was released on unconditional bail ahead of his next hearing on 2 June at Cardiff Magistrates' Court.
Teachers Fiona Elias, Liz Hopkin and a pupil, who cannot be named because of their age, were stabbed by the girl, who was 13 at the time, during break time at the school in April 2024.The first attempted murder trial collapsed in October because of what the judge described as a "great irregularity in the jury".The charge on Mr Elias comes under the Juries Act 1974, which sets out requirements as to who is eligible for jury service in Wales and England, and permits court officers to put questions to potential jurors to establish whether or not they are qualified to form part of a jury.
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