Jury still out in double-murder trial

A jury has been sent to a hotel for the second night in a row in the trial of a Chinese man accused of the double murder of two of his friends in Dublin two years ago.

Mr Yu Jie (aged 25) with a last address at McKee Avenue, Finglas, denies the murder of 19-year-olds Mr Yue Feng and Ms Liu Qing in an apartment at Blackhall Square, North King Street, Dublin, at times between March 12th and March 14th 2001.

The prosecution alleges that Yu Jie strangled the couple on March 12th and returned in the early hours of March 14th to set fire to their bodies.

The jury retired shortly before 4pm on Friday after what has been the longest trial in Irish legal history, lasting so far 59 days.

One of the 12-member jury panel passed away during the course of the trial, and 11 jurors remain to decide verdicts in the Central Criminal Court.

They return to the jury room tomorrow at 11am.