The jury in the trial of two men accused of a £1.2million conspiracy to steal Mercedes vans across East Anglia have been discharged in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
Miroslav Pesko, 30, from Charlton and Tadas Taraskevicius, 27, from High Street, Lowestoft, had been on trial at Norwich Crown Court having both denied conspiracy to steal.
The trial was due to run into next week but following the prime minister’s announcement warning people to “avoid non-essential contact” Judge Stephen Holt discharged the jury on Tuesday (March 17).
He said “two key players in the case” fell into the category that should be self-isolating and indicated it was “inevitable” that he would have to discharge the jury from giving verdicts.
Judge Holt said the most important thing was the health of everyone that comes to court and insisted there would be a “very real danger” in just pressing on.
A new trial date was set for October 19.
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