Stardust jury ‘still needs time’ to consider its verdicts

The jury at the Stardust fire inquests has said it still needs time to consider its verdicts.

This morning, the 12 jurors began its 11th day of deliberations.

Briefly addressing the coroner at the start of today’s proceedings the foreman said the jury still have “some issues” that need to be “ironed out” and said “so still need time.”

The coroner, Dr Myra Cullinane, said she will speak to them again this afternoon.

The 12-person jury, made up of seven women and five men, initially retired to consider their verdicts on Wednesday 3 April.

The court has previously heard how the jury has been given a questionnaire to be filled out dealing with each individual victim, and another set of questions dealing with the circumstances of the fire.

Forty-eight people, aged 16-27, died in the St Valentines Day disaster, 43 years ago.

In all, these fresh inquests sat for 122 days and heard testimony from 370 witnesses.

They got under way last April after a direction from the Attorney General who said that there had been an insufficiency of inquiry at the original inquests which were held in 1982.

The move followed a sustained campaign by the families.

In her charge to the jury last month, the coroner told the jury that there were five verdicts open to them – accidental death, death by misadventure, unlawful killing, an open verdict or a narrative verdict.