Man faces retrial on child sex charges
A WARWICKSHIRE man accused of sexually abusing two children is to face a retrial.
Tony Clarke, aged 30, went on trial at Coventry Crown Court last week charged with 12 counts of rape, indecent assault and gross indecency to two children under the age of 14.
Clarke is accused of carrying out the abuse between November 1993 and February 2000.
He denied all the charges.
After hearing all the evidence, the jury, made up of eight women and four men, retired on Friday afternoon to decide their verdict.
But by Tuesday the group had failed to reach a unanimous decision on the 12 charges.
As a result, the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed yesterday it had given a direction for Clarke to face a retrial.
A spokesman for the CPS said a fresh trial would now go ahead, but a date for this is yet to be fixed.
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