THE jury in the trial of a councillor accused of indecently assaulting a schoolboy will resume its deliberations on Monday after failing to reach any verdicts in more than four hours of discussion.
Peter McLaughlin faces 15 charges of indecently assaulting the boy while working as a holiday coach driver in the early 1990s.
The 62-year-old former chairman of Stanley Town Council in County Durham, and ex chairman of Stanley Area Action Partnership, denies deliberately grooming the 13-year-old and assaulting him after taking him on trips to the continent.
He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and has been on trial at Carlisle Crown Court all week.
The jury retired to consider their verdicts today (Friday, April 11), but were sent home at the end of the day without reaching a decision.
Coun McLaughlin, of Murray Park, Stanley, is accused of committing the offences while driving for Redcrest, a Carlisle-based holiday company, in the early 1990s.
He told the court in evidence that there was simply no truth in the alleged victim's allegations.
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