Body in suitcase retrial ordered

A judge has ordered a second retrial in the case of a homeless man accused of strangling a girl and hiding her body in a suitcase.

Philip Bell, 23, who has no fixed address but is from the Tunbridge Wells area in Kent, denies murdering 17-year-old Terry Edmonds.

Judge Andrew Patience said at Maidstone Crown Court that a third trial would be held.

Mr Bell was given leave to appeal against the decision.

If the appeal is not upheld, the trial could begin as early as January 12, 2009.

Terry Edmonds' body was found in a case near Morrisons supermarket in Tunbridge Wells in April 2006 after she was allegedly killed in a car park.

Juries in two previous trials in May 2007 and January 2008 failed to reach a verdict in the case and were discharged.