THE jury in the trial of two top private school teachers accused of sexually abusing their pupils has resumed its deliberations.

The five men and seven women left the Hove Crown Court room just before 10.45am on Tuesday to continue considering their verdicts after a four-week trial.

James Husband and Gary Dobbie, who both worked at the prestigious Christ's Hospital School in Horsham, West Sussex, denied sexually abusing eight pupils over the course of 13 years.

Husband, 68, of Wigginton in York, was initially charged with four counts of rape and five of indecently assaulting a girl as young as 14 between 1990 and 1994.

The CPS later dropped three counts of rape against him and the formally entered not guilty verdicts. He remains on trial accused of one count of rape alongside the five indecent assault allegations.

Dobbie, of Albi in France and formerly of Hereford, faces a string of allegations against six boys and two girls as young as 12 between 1998 and 2001.

He denies 12 counts of indecently assaulting four boys and two girls, attempting to indecently assault a boy and two counts of indecency with a child. The 66-year-old was teaching at independent Shrewsbury School, Shropshire, at the time of his arrest in 2016.