The jury in the trial of a 16-year-old Suffolk schoolboy accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend has been sent home for the third day without reaching a verdict. 

The defendant, who cannot be named because of his age, has denied murdering 16-year-old Harley Barfield in Haverhill earlier this year but has admitted manslaughter and possessing the knife used to kill him. 

During the month-long trial, the boy's defence team said he had autism spectrum disorder, and this had affected his thinking and behaviour in a way that reduced his level of responsibility for the killing. 

It has been alleged that the boy armed himself with a kitchen knife and lay in wait for Harley, who was going out with his former girlfriend, before confronting him in a “jealous rage” and trying to goad him into a fight near Strasbourg Square in Haverhill in January this year. 

Harley was airlifted to the hospital, where, despite the efforts of doctors, he died two days after the stabbing on January 11 as a result of a fatal wound to his heart.