A JURY has been discharged after failing to reach a verdict in a rape case.

Following a four day trial, a jury at Bolton Crown Court spent seven hours and 20 minutes deliberating whether Daniel Brindle was guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl.

The prosecution had told how 30-year-old Brindle had grabbed the girl as she sat on a bed playing an X-box computer game.

She broke down in tears at school a week later, telling a teacher and school nurse that she had been raped and was worried that she could be pregnant.

Brindle, of Hengist Street, Tonge Fold, was arrested and denied ever having any sexual contact with the girl.

Recorder Simon Killeen asked the jury foreman whether they would be able to reach a verdict upon which at least 10 of them were agreed if they were given more time.

He was told they could not and so the jury was discharged.

The Crown Prosecution Service will now decide whether there should be a retrial and there will be a further court hearing on May 6.