A HAMPSHIRE man in court over a £1.75m armed robbery at Heathrow Airport is to face a retrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict on the case.

John Twomey from the New Forest is accused of being one of six men who held up the Menzies World Cargo Depot warehouse at gunpoint in February 2004.

During the raid the robbers tied up 16 members of staff and even shot at one of the employees when he tried to escape.

Twomey, 59, who lives in New Milton where he ran a furniture shop, has always denied being involved in the raid.

Yesterday the nine jurors left on the bench were dismissed by a judge at the Old Bailey in London after spending more than a week deliberating on their verdicts and still failing to agree.

Twomey, along with his two co-defendants who also deny any involvement in the hold-up, Peter Blake, 55, of Colville Houses in Notting Hill in West London and Barry Hibberd, 40, of Goldhawk Road in Shepherds Bush, all face charges of conspiracy to rob and other offences.

A retrial is now due to take place.