The trial of a man accused of stabbing to death a grandmother during a children's party at a McDonald's restaurant has been postponed.

Shane Freer, 20, who is accused of murder, was due to go on trial at Lewes Crown Court on January 9 next year.

After a hearing yesterday Judge Richard Brown ruled the trial will not now go ahead on that date.

Freer, of First Avenue, Batchmere, Chichester, is charged with murdering Jackie Marshall as she supervised the party at the restaurant in Terminus Road, Chichester, on April 16.

Mrs Marshall, 57, who worked for the fast-food chain for 15 years, had been married for 38 years and lived with her husband, Eddie, 62, at Southbourne, near Chichester.