A woman accused with her fireman lover of murdering her husband should face a retrial, relatives demanded tonight. Mother-of-three Mrs Lesley Gault (35) was released on bail this afternoon after the judge hearing her case dismissed the jury after they failed to arrive at a unanimous verdict.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) must now decide on whether to seek a second trial.
Mrs Gault's lover Gordon Graham (40) is expected to be sentenced early next year after he was convicted of bludgeoning to death Mrs Gault's husband, Paul, at the couple's home in Lisburn, Co Antrim.
Mrs Gault was freed on bail at the end of a nine-week trial at Belfast Crown Court where the jury of 10 men and two women announced they were unable to agree a majority verdict.
Her father-in-law Mr Patrick Gault tonight demanded a new jury to be sworn in: "We want a retrial. We won't rest until justice is done."
Mrs Gault, the mother of seven-year-old triplets wept as the jury foreman told the trial judge, Mr Justice McLaughlin that they could not reach a verdict after deliberating for 12 hours over four days.
Her husband was found battered to death in the bedroom of their semi-detached home at Audley Avenue in May 2000.
The court heard she and Graham, a father-of-three, from Wheatfield, Ballygowan, Co Down had been having a passionate two-and-a-half year affair. But they denied murdering Mr Gault so that they could set up home together.
Mr Justice McLaughlin told Mrs Gault she was in the "slightly unusual position" of having been neither convicted or acquitted.
He said she was "not free of the charge" of the murder of her husband but would remain on bail while the DPP decided whether she should face a new trial.
The judge praised the jury for the "selflessness and commitment" they had shown during the trial and told them in recognition of this, they would be excused from jury service for the rest of their lives, if they wished.
He also told them their failure to reach a verdict one way or another was an "entirely legitimate one". He added he had no doubt that the verdict they reached would be "respected by the whole of the community".
Earlier, Mr Justice Mc Laughlin informed the jury that he would accept a "special" or "weighted" majority verdict of 10-2 or 11-1 in favour of guilty or not guilty.
However, when the jury returned two hours later, the foreman said the outstanding issues could not be resolved through further deliberation and they were discharged.
The trial heard that Mr Gault was murdered on May 19th, 2000, almost three weeks after he discovered his wife and Graham were having an affair. The prosecution claimed Graham and Mrs Gault had conspired to remove her husband. However, Mrs Gault denied any involvement in the murder.
Mr Gault, a transport manager with a road haulage firm, was found in the blood-spattered bedroom by a neighbour called by his wife.
By convicting Graham on Tuesday, the jury accepted the prosecution case that he had ransacked the house after committing the murder in order to make it look as if the killing had been the result of a bungled burglary.
Graham had insisted he was shopping for an anniversary present for his wife when the vicious murder took place, although he was questioned within hours of the killing by police.
Exactly one month after the murder, on June 19th, 2000, Graham, an assistant divisional officer at Fire Brigade Headquarters in Lisburn, and Mrs Gault, an administrator in the same building, were arrested by police.
Graham was charged with the murder and remanded into custody at that time. Mrs Gault was also charged with murder 14 months later.
PA