Verdict awaited in trial of footballers

Leeds - The jury in the trial of three Leeds United footballers was yesterday sent home for the night without returning any verdicts…

Leeds - The jury in the trial of three Leeds United footballers was yesterday sent home for the night without returning any verdicts in the case.

The seven men and four women had been deliberating for nearly seven hours at Hull Crown Court when trial judge Mr Justice Poole adjourned the case until this morning.

Leeds players Jonathan Woodgate (21), and Lee Bowyer (24), together with Woodgate's friends Mr Neale Caveney and Mr Paul Clifford, both 21, deny causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Mr Sarfraz Najeib (20), a students who was beaten and kicked senseless in a street attack in Leeds city centre in January last year. Mr Woodgate, Mr Caveney and Mr Clifford, together with Leeds player Michael Duberry (25), also deny conspiring to pervert the course of justice by concealing potentially incriminating evidence from police.