A CROWN court jury will decide if a suspected murderer is mentally fit to stand trial.

Gary Taylor, 38, is accused of killing 40-year-old father-of-two Colin Johnson, who was found with his throat slashed at his home in Pickering Road, Pennywell, Sunderland, on January 17.

But a hearing held in his absence at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday was told he may not be fit to enter a plea to the murder charge and has so far given his legal team no instructions regarding his defence.

Taylor, of The Royalty, Sunderland, is being held at Rampton top security hospital in Nottinghamshire, where he is being assessed by psychiatrists and will be brought before the court on November 8.

Jurors will then decide, after hearing evidence from psychiatrists, whether or not he is fit to be tried on the murder charge.

His defence barrister, David Robson QC, told the court that if it was found that Mr Taylor was not fit to enter a plea, a second jury would then decide whether or not he carried out the act of killing.

Mr Robson said: "We will need a jury trial on fitness to plead, followed by a new jury to establish what facts they find proved."

If the second jury decides he did carry out the killing, the most likely outcome is he would be detained in hospital.

Mr Johnson, who was unemployed, had been spending the evening at home and was found dead when his girlfriend returned later that night.