A jury in a murder case has been sent home after three jurors were struck down with Covid-19.

And another case at Maidstone Crown Court was put on hold after Public Health England (PHE) was called in.

The outbreak came in the third week of the trial of Kieron Nicholson who has denied stabbing a friend to death.

Judge Philip Statman said that one juror tested positive last week and was discharged.

Now two more have gone home with the virus, as prosecution and defence barristers were preparing to deliver their final speeches after hearing all the evidence.

Officials from PHE were called in to offer advice as the defendant joined the hearing by video link from Elmley Prison where he is on remand.

The judge told lawyers and police: "We live in extraordinary times and what has been uppermost in my mind, and has been since the start of the trial, is the welfare of jurors, counsel and court staff."

He said the jurors were informed that they should go home and isolate until a decision is taken on whether the trial should continue.

A second judge, Charles Gratwicke, who was about to begin a trial of a defendant accused of causing death by careless driving, sent potential jurors home before the case began.

Nicholson, 29, of Vicarage Lane, East Farleigh is on trial accused of murdering Jamie Simmons who had turned 29 a week before the incident.

He denies the charge.

The jury had heard how an argument began on May 4 this year at a block of flats in Wells House, Cambridge Crescent in Shepway.

Prosecutor Ahmed Hossain QC, told how Mr Simmons had clashed with a friend of Nicholson, Jack McCann over a remark made to his partner Charlotte Muddiman.

Mr McCann told him to take care of his children while he "took care" of Ms Muddiman.

Nicholson is then alleged to have grabbed the steak knife before shouting: "Get the **** out or I will stab you!" as Ms Muddiman tried to shield her lover and received two superficial cuts to her arm.

She later told police that Nicholson had been holding the knife in his right hand and "making jabbing motions".

Mr Hossain said that when Ms Muddiman tried to usher her lover out of the flat she noticed a red stain on his chest and "realised he had been stabbed twice".

The prosecutor said another neighbour, alerted by the noise of the argument, then began recording the incident.

He told the jury: "You will hear Jamie Simmons in his dying moments, saying: "Kieron, Kieron you mother of *****...why have you got to get involved?"

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