The jury in a Brighton murder trial has been sent home until tomorrow (Tuesday 28 February) because the courtroom was too hot.
The trial of Pietro Addis, 19, of Radinden Manor Road, Hove, was due to resume at 10am today at Lewes Crown Court.
The teenager is charged with murdering his grandmother Sue Addis, 69, by stabbing her to death in her bath at her home in Cedars Gardens, Brighton.
He denies murder but admits the manslaughter of Mrs Addis, a well-known Brighton restaurateur, on the ground of diminished responsibility as the result of a brief and transient paranoid psychosis.
At the end of last week, the courtroom was notably chilly and a request was made for the heating to be turned up.
The jury was told that the request had to be relayed to someone in Crawley because the heating was controlled remotely from there.
When the sitting ended on Friday, court 3 at Lewes was warm and by this morning it was deemed too hot for the case to resume.
The jury of four men and eight women were asked to return tomorrow for 10am when an expert witness, Duncan Harding, was due to return to the witness box.
Dr Harding, a consultant forensic psychiatrist, gave evidence on Friday and is due to be cross-examined by Sarah Elliott, defending.
