'Kebab' murder case jury discharged

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Iyad Albattikhi, 30, owner of Funny Boyz fast food shop in Blackpool, Lancashire, was alleged at Preston Crown Court to have strangled 14-year-old Charlene Downes after having sex with her.

No trace of her body has been found since she vanished more than three years ago.

The jury also failed to reach a verdict on Albattikhi's landlord and Iranian business partner Mohammed Reveshi, 50, who was accused of helping dispose of the girl's body.

Both men denied all charges.

The court heard Charlene was one of a number of young white girls who went into the town to have sex with older men who worked in the fast food shops.

Charlene, from Buchanan Street in Blackpool, was "well and happy" but her home life was "chaotic".

Expelled from school, she spent her time hanging around shops on the Blackpool Promenade, and was last seen on the early evening of Saturday November 1 2003. After kissing her mother goodbye she went off on her own - and vanished off the face of the Earth.

Albattikhi, known as Eddie, was alleged to have laughed that Charlene's body had been minced up and "gone into the kebabs" after her disappearance.

After deliberating for just over 49 hours, the jury of seven men and five women told Mr Justice Henriques that it was "highly unlikely" that they would be able to reach a verdict.