The £8m trial of two Leeds United footballers accused of a street attack on an Asian student was halted yesterday

The judge ruled a newspaper article could unfairly prejudice the case against them.

Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Wood-gate, of Middlesbrough, face a possible re-trial after the collapse of the case at Hull Crown Court following publication of an interview with the victim's father in the Sunday Mirror.

Woodgate's two friends, Paul Clifford and Neale Caveney, from Middlesbrough, could also face further legal proceedings.

Trial judge Mr Justice Poole also referred a possible contempt case against the newspaper to the Attorney General.

He dismissed the jury and ordered the trial to be halted, saying there was "a clear and substantial risk of prejudice raised by the article".

He said: "I am concerned that for ten weeks, and many months before that, all interested parties have been striving for justice for the victim, the victim's family and the defendants who have an entitlement to a fair trial.

"This jury has applied itself, countless witnesses have attended to their considerable inconvenience.

"The result is that for now all that is derailed."

He said justice could not be done in the atmosphere created by a misleading article.

A spokesman for Muhammad Najeib, the alleged victim's father, said he had no comment to make. "He is very saddened and does not feel he can trust reporters."

A spokesman for the Sunday Mirror denied its article was contempt of court, but said it would be inappropriate to comment at this stage.

The trial collapsed after the jury of seven men and four women had deliberated over three days after hearing eight weeks of evidence.

Deliberations were delayed for three hours yesterday when legal submissions were made.

The judge then asked the jury: "Is any of you aware of an article in yesterday's Sunday Mirror whether by seeing it, or by discussing it with anyone else, or by any other means containing details of an interview with Mr Muhammad Najeib, the father of Sarfraz and Shahzad Najeib?"

After retiring for ten minutes, the foreman said when asked by the judge what their answer was: "It's yes."

Woodgate, 21, Bowyer, 24, Clifford and Caveney, both 21, all denied assault and affray charges following the alleged attack on Sarfraz Najeib, 20, outside the Majestyk nightclub in Leeds city centre last January.

On Thursday, the jury returned not guilty verdicts on a charge of conspiracy to pervert justice against another Leeds player, Michael Duberry, 25, and on Woodgate, Clifford and Caveney.

In his ruling yesterday, the judge criticised the adoption by police of the definition of a racist incident as urged in the Macpherson report into the death of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

The report stated that a racist incident was one perceived as such by the victim - or any other person.

The judge said: "That is one approach that is entirely subjective."

He said the police were acting "in good faith" by adopting the Macpherson definition. But the prosecution had made it clear they would not be alleging this was a racist incident.

"The risk of police using that definition in their investigations in the absence of evidence has the potential for causing serious mischief and ought to be reconsidered," he concluded.

The footballers required a police escort to guide them through the media and public outside the court.

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