The jury in the trial of a teenage boy accused of attempted murder after shooting a friend in the face with a shotgun in Kesgrave has been told it can return a majority verdict on which at least 10 of them agree.

Judge Martyn Levett gave the direction to the jury at 1pm today (Thursday, June 24) after the panel had been deliberating for more than 18 hours over the last three days.

He thanked the jury for its hard work and asked the panel if possible to reach unanimous verdicts but said if it was unable to do this, he would accept a verdict on which at least 10 of them agreed.

However, the jury was still unable to reach any verdicts after four days of deliberating and was sent home at 3.45pm with instructions to return to court tomorrow (Friday, June 25).

The defendant, who was 15 at the time of the shooting but is now 16 and cannot be named due to his age, has denied attempted murder, possession of a shotgun with intent to endanger life, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possessing a shotgun with intent to cause fear of violence against a man who witnessed the incident.

The jury has been told that he has admitted possessing a shotgun with intent to cause the victim of the shooting fear of violence.

During the trial it has been alleged that the teenager drove his father's car to Friends Walk in Kesgrave on September 7 last year and shot the other boy in the face at close range.

The victim, who was also aged 15 at the time, was on his way to school in Kesgrave on the first day of term and suffered life-changing injuries.

Giving evidence during the trial, the defendant said his intention had not been to shoot the other boy in the face, kill him, or do him really serious harm, but to "scare" him.

He previously told the court that bullying by the other boy had damaged his self confidence and left him feeling upset and humiliated.