A jury was discharged today after failing to reach a decision in the case of a March man facing 12 child sex offences.

Judge Christopher Morgan at Chelmsford Crown Court dismissed the jury – who had deliberated for three days- and ordered a new trial to begin on October 17.

Allan Hammond, 78, of Steeple View, March, denied all 12 charges against him, seven of which are indecent assaults against a child.

For some of the offences, the victim is said to have been as young as eight or nine-years-old.

The jury had been told the offences allegedly spanned several decades.

While the charges concerning the female victims are said to have taken place in the 1960s and 1970s, the alleged assault on the male happened between April 29, 1990, and April 28, 1991.

In interviews with the police, Hammond denied all allegations.

Hammond previously lived in Essex and the allegations contained in the charges related to crimes allegedly carried out in Saffron Walden, Colchester, Enfield, Chigwell and Chingford.