Man free after night bus trial

The mother of a teenager knifed to death by a pensioner in an argument over an umbrella spoke of her grief after the man accused of murder walked free from court.

Terry Gregory, 19, was stabbed nine times.

His friend Sammy Nelson, also 19, received a deep cut to his hand as he tried to ward off blows from the knife in the clash.

Grandfather George Edwin, 66, was charged with murder and causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Nelson in the Woolwich attack.

But after two trials at Inner London Crown Court ended in deadlock, Judge Jonathan van der Werff ruled it would be "cruelly onerous" for the pensioner to face a third trial, which could not start before next May.

The jury in the second trial had acquitted Edwin on the GBH charge and Victor Temple, QC, told the court the "convention" of the Crown Prosecution Service was to offer no evidence on the murder charge after two such unresolved trials.

Mr Gregory was a swimming pool lifeguard with 12 GCSEs. Today his mother Sue, 47, said she had been left "devastated" by the outcome.

She added: "This man was not found guilty or not guilty, and now we are denied any type of justice. It is a disgrace. Everyone in the community is in uproar. No one can believe what's happened - even the police are shocked.

"We will not be letting this go. I would like a change in the law so this can never happen again. A man walks out of court having stabbed my son nine times, he has admitted in court to carrying a knife and is now free to do it again.

"Terry was loved and respected by all who knew him. He was a loving and hard-working young man who had all his life to look forward to." The court had heard that Edwin, from Charlton, stabbed his victim with such force the blows penetrated the bone and included two wounds to the back after he had collapsed.

Edwin told the court he had no memory of the stabbing so he could offer no explanation, although it was suggested the victim may have fallen or been pushed on to his knife.

The attack happened three days after Christmas. Mr Nelson, Mr Gregory and his girlfriend Louise Reed, 16, had been out for a drink in Charlton and were on a night bus shortly after 1am.

They encountered Edwin when he boarded with his girlfriend and two other women.

Mr Gregory had jumped off the bus to collect an umbrella his companion had left at the stop when Edwin suddenly snatched it from his grasp.

The teenager threw a punch at the pensioner, who rejoined the three women on the bus as the friends decided to walk home.

As they reached Church Street, Woolwich, Miss Reed saw Edwin marching towards them and producing a knife. The court heard how Mr Nelson was left with severed tendons and muscles after trying to block the first blow. As he stumbled away, Edwin turned on Mr Gregory.

Miss Reed told the jury she believed her boyfriend was being punched and only realised he had been stabbed as he stumbled bleeding towards her and collapsed in the road.

Edwin fled the scene while Miss Reed called an ambulance.

At Queen Elizabeth Hospital Mr Gregory was pronounced dead and found to have a punctured heart, lung and liver through stab wounds to his chest and back.