A JURY was discharged in the trial of an alleged ‘stalker’ accused of harassing a council worker he was ‘obsessed’ with.

David Griffiths who had denied writing the letters to a council procurement officer, will face another trial in Hereford after the jury was discharged at Worcester Crown Court yesterday. The 50-year-old of Bridge Street, Worcester, gave evidence from the witness box earlier that day when judge Robert Juckes QC announced the jury could no longer sit on the case.

Griffiths denied breaching a restraining order by sending four letters criticising a council procurement officer and charity volunteer. He disputed sending the letters criticising Sheila Mari between December 9 and December 19, 2017. The prosecution say the letters were sent to Worcester City Council, Malvern Hills District Council, Wychavon District Council and Cllr Jo Hodges in breach of a five year restraining order imposed on February 19, 2016.

Judge Juckes told the jury: “Members of the jury, it’s unfortunate we have had this halt in the progress of the case. I’m afraid it’s now come to a head. I have had two notes from you, both extremely pertinent notes. One I have had to pay very careful and anxious consideration to. It has led me to the conclusion that I’m going to have to discharge you from considering this case further because of something that has arisen. I can’t explain all of the detail of that.”

The case is scheduled to be heard again by a new jury, this time at Hereford Crown, on July 30. Addressing the defendant, the judge said: “I regret this has happened. I fully understand you must be anxious to get this resolved.”

In his evidence Griffiths said ‘I did not write that letter’, and claimed he saw it for the first time when police interviewed him. He denied ‘bullying’ Alan Taylor, a man with learning difficulties, into writing the letter to Miss Mari and also said an apologetic Mr Taylor had written a retraction letter. Griffiths was cross-examined by prosecutor Ekwall Singh Tiwana, telling the jury this letter had been ‘lost’ after he handed it to solicitors Rogers and Co and he ‘wasn’t very happy’ about it.

Mr Tiwana asked him if he had penned the letter himself and that was the reason he was not using it in his evidence. Griffiths replied ‘absolutely not’ and said ‘you’re lying’. Mr Tiwana replied: “I’m lying?”

Griffiths said ‘you have made stuff up all the way along’. Mr Tiwana put it to Griffiths that he had become obsessed with Miss Mari. Griffiths said the two had been in a consensual relationship for eight or nine months, something she had disputed when she gave evidence behind a screen earlier in the trial.

“I can prove that with texts if you want” said Griffiths who said he had ‘liked’ Miss Mari but denied he was obsessed with her.

“I feel sorry for the woman in a way” said Griffiths who denied he had a grudge against her. At one point Griffiths said: “Why is this in court? This is the kind of thing that happens in North Korea.”

He asked the prosecutor why his fingerprints were not on the letter he was accused of writing, claiming Alan Taylor had been ‘coached’ and had been ‘told to act like that in order to portray himself as vulnerable’, describing it as ‘crazy’ and ‘sinister’. Griffiths was asked if he had used a vulnerable man to ‘to do your bidding’ but the defendant said it was ‘the other way around’.

“This is the sinister part - the police have used a very vulnerable man to try and get me into trouble” he said.