A former St John Ambulance volunteer accused of sexually assaulting four women is to face a retrial after the jury was discharged today.

John Franklin, of Kent Avenue, Sittingbourne, denies two charges of assault by penetration and three of sexual assault.

The 38-year-old was a first-aider at the Sittingbourne division of St John Ambulance and also a volunteer on an Urban Blue Bus in Maidstone, providing medical help in the town centre on Saturday evenings, when he was alleged to have committed the offences in 2011 and 2012.

Judge Philip Statman told the jury of seven men and five women: “For legal reasons which I cannot go into with you, I am going to have to discharge your continuing with this case and returning verdicts in due course.”

The retrial will start on October 28.