THE trial of a management consultant accused of tax fraud has had to be abandoned today because the case has 'hit a very large rock'.

Judge Jamie Tabor QC discharged jurors who had spent three days hearing the case against Suzanne Dean and said he could not tell them more about the reasons at this stage.

Ms Dean, 46, formerly of Upthorpe Farm, Dursley, but now of Fromebridge Lane, Whitminster, has denied two charges of fraudulent evasion of VAT in the period 2011 to 2014 and one charge of cheating the public revenue between March 2010 and April 2013 by failing to pay corporation tax.

The taxes related to two businesses she ran, Byrnes Freeman Ltd and then H Consult Ltd.

The trial opened on Monday and continued on Tuesday with evidence from Ms Dean's former partner Craig Buckland.

But most of yesterday Tuesday was taken up with legal argument behind closed doors without the jury present.

Today when jurors arrived at court expecting the trial to continue judge Tabor told them: "Trials are like ships - sometimes sailing across a smooth sea sometimes weaving in and out of rocks and sometimes facing a very large rock indeed.

"I am afraid to say this case has run into a very hard rock. It is not the fault of the prosecution, it is not the fault of the defence and it is not the fault of Ms Dean.

"It is infuriating for you after three days of your lives devoted to hearing the evidence in this case. It is annoying for both counsel and for the judge as well.

"I am afraid to say this is one of those cases where something very serious has just cropped up out of the blue and I am going to have to discharge you.

"You have concentrated hard on a case that requires serious concentration and we were just getting to the interesting bit I think.

"It will have to be tried again in the relatively near future. When we have finally dealt with the case you may hear more about why you have had to waste three days of your lives."