A judge yesterday (November 12) threw out a murder charge against a Banbury man and told the jury to consider only a lesser allegation of manslaughter.

Judge Julian Hall said it would be unsafe to let the jurors reach a verdict on the original murder charge faced by David Wale, 44, because of a lack of evidence of murderous intent.

Wale went on trial at Oxford Crown Court last week for allegedly murdering his partner Michael Keating, 47, at the bungalow they had shared for more than 20 years in Laurel Close. He denies killing Mr Keating.

Paramedics called by Wale found Mr Keating, a technician working at North Oxfordshire College in Banbury, slumped dead in the bath on May 6. A pathologist said he died from internal bleeding.

The defence suggests Manuel Seguera, 33, could have caused the fatal injury. Mr Seguera, a friend of both men, said he accidentally tripped and fell on Mr Keating two hours before he died.

Judge Hall told the jury they should therefore acquit Wale of murder in due course. He said: "The case which you must now try is: did the defendant deliberately cause injury to the deceased and did that injury lead to his death?"

He said that if the answer to that was yes, it amounted to manslaughter.

The jury was expected to continue considering its verdict today (November 13).