A JURY failed to reach a verdict after hearing that a married waiter raped a 19-year-old woman at an Upton-upon Severn restaurant.

After retiring for nearly five hours at Worcester Crown Court, the foreman of a panel of nine men and three women said there was no realistic prospect of them reaching a decision.

Judge Michael Mott said the allegation against Abdal Miah may have to be re-tried and ordered it to be mentioned in court next week.

Miah, 27, of Hemming Way, Evesham, denied raping the teenager, claiming she consented to sex.

She had gone to the Pundits restaurant in Old Street on October 21 last year, to try and get a lift to Malvern to see her former boyfriend. But when she failed, she stayed and chatted to staff, the court heard.

Prosecutor Antonie Muller alleged that Miah took advantage of her situation.

He said Miah attacked her in his bedroom before letting her out into the street at 3am.

She woke up her parents and became hysterical. A doctor later found fresh bruises on her breasts.

Mr Muller said Miah hid some of the bedding and fled from the restaurant through a back door as police arrived at the front.

Miah told police they had sex by consent after she came to his room while he was changing.

Robert Cowley, defending, suggested that Miah got under the bed clothes because he felt cold and the teenager followed him voluntarily.