A panel of jurors yesterday failed to reach a verdict, after seven hours of deliberation, on whether a man was involved in an attempted robbery of a bank 18 years ago in which he allegedly tried to kill a policeman.

The jurors will resume their deliberations today.

George Xuereb, 49, Marsa, faced a week-long trial over a hold-up at the St Andrew’s Mid-Med Bank branch in 1996. He stands accused of the attempted murder of two policemen in a shootout outside the bank.

The robbery, through which the thieves could have netted nearly €250,000, was foiled by armed police officers who happened to be at a petrol station nearby, seeing to a deflated tyre.

During the trial, presided over by Mr Justice Michael Mallia, jurors heard the prosecution insisting that there was no doubt of the man’s involvement in the attempted robbery.

The prosecution relied, almost entirely, on the testimony of one of the robbers, Joseph Polidano, who has already served 10 years in jail for his involvement.

Mr Polidano said a gang of five people had planned and committed the robbery and this included Mr Xuereb.

According to Mr Polidano, Mr Xuereb was responsible for the weapons that were in a plastic bag. Mr Xuereb’s fingerprint was found on the bag.

Lawyer Lara Lanfranco, from the Attorney General’s office, wondered what interest Mr Polidano would have in implicating other people, as a person who had already admitted his guilt and served his sentence.

Mr Polidano did not embellish the story but simply admitted to the crime and gave details of the role played by others, she said.

However, defence lawyer Raphael Fenech Adami said there was absolutely no evidence linking his client to the foiled hold-up.

He based his line of defence on the testimony of another man convicted over the robbery, Carmelo Spiteri, who said in court that they were three robbers and that he had never seen Mr Xuereb before he met him in jail when he (Mr Xuereb) was in custody over the case.

Dr Fenech Adami insisted there was insufficient evidence to connect Mr Xuereb to the attempted robbery. “By no stretch of the imagination is there enough evidence which proves, beyond reasonable doubt, that my client was involved in this case.”