A NEW trial of a man accused of dropping a dead rat outside of his neighbour's cafe will take place after a magistrate said he knew one of the witnesses in the original hearing.

Peter McKenny, 54, of Rainford Road, Windle denies leaving the rodent close to the kitchen door of Toast cafe in Dentons Green on the morning of Wednesday, May 2 last year.

A trial began at Merseyside Magistrates’ Court on Friday, January 4 and continued on Monday (January, 14).

As the case for the defence was heard today, McKenny's brother, Anthony, appeared as a witness to claim that CCTV footage showing a man tipping a dead rat out of a bag at the location was "definitely not" his brother.

The two magistrates retired to consider their verdict after around four hours of court time over the two days, following the summing up of the prosecution and defence's cases.

They returned a short while later to order that a new trial will have to take place.

One of the magistrates told the court: "I am not prepared to give a verdict on this, I know the witness.

"As a result, there will have to be another trial."

He added: "We are not presented with a list of witnesses. I live in the local area and know certain people, it wouldn't be right."

On the first day of the trial, six witnesses were called by the prosecution, who had either viewed CCTV footage, or a recording of the incident posted on Facebook, who said they were in “no doubt” McKenny is the man depicted due to his clothing and "distinctive" manner of walking.

These included Toast owner Lisa Whittle, a neighbour of McKenny’s, who said she recognised McKenny by a “quite distinctive” manner of walking with his left arm raised because he has “had a stroke” and has a set of keys “hanging from his belt”.

The prosecution claimed there were “inconsistencies” between McKenny’s denials of the offence and his initial police interview when, presented with CCTV footage, he said he “couldn’t say” whether it was him.

Defending, Christopher Mantle said the defendant had “maintained throughout a voluntary interview that he wasn’t responsible” for the offence.

The court also heard that McKenny shared two Facebook posts on his wall on July 23, one an image bearing the word ‘I couldn’t give a ...’ followed by an image of a rat and another showed a group of rats.

McKenny claimed this was a “coincidence” and the posts related to a strike that day on the London Underground as he had travelled to the capital on that date.

When put to him it was a very “strange post”, McKenny said: “That’s my sense of humour”.

Giving evidence in his defence, McKenny claimed he “wouldn’t be able to get home comfortably” if he had walked the distance to Toast cafe due to his stroke.

He said he never wore a belt or had his keys hanging and doesn’t wear boots.

Mr Mantle asked magistrates to bear in mind the “inherent unreliability of identification and recognition evidence" and that, considering the maximum penalty for the offence is a fine, the fact McKenny put himself through the “ordeal of a trial” is because “he’s not responsible for committing the offence”.

After magistrates revealed they would not deliver a verdict, a new trial has been scheduled for Friday, April 5 at Sefton Magistrates' Court in Bootle.