Juror illness halts murder trial

Geraldine Palk had been raped and stabbed

The trial of the man accused of murdering Cardiff secretary Geraldine Palk has had to start afresh at Bristol Crown Court.

The original trial had to be abandoned on Tuesday after a juror fell ill, and a new hearing was expected to get underway later the same day at Bristol Crown Court.

The murder took place near Fairwater Leisure Centre

All 11 remaining jury members were returned to the pool of waiting jurors. A new jury will now be selected and sworn in.

Mark Hampson, a 35-year-old carpet fitter from Taff's Well, near Cardiff, is accused of murdering the 26-year-old shipping clerk.

Ms Palk's body - which had been stabbed more than 80 times and raped - was found near her home in Fairwater four days before Christmas in 2000.

She had spent the evening of 21 December with friends at an office party in Jackson's nightclub in the city centre.

Samples

She later shared a cab to Fairwater with others and was dropped off close to her home in Waterhall Road.

In the decade that followed her death, detectives took DNA samples from 5,000 men in one of the largest screening programmes ever undertaken by a British police force.

Her death was the first in a series of tragic events for the Palk family.

Her mother Cynthia Palk, 61, was knocked down and killed by a car as she walked past the spot where her daughter's body was found.

Neighbours said the retired nurse had never got over her daughter's brutal death. The following year, Geraldine's father Les died.