A JUROR was discharged from the trial of actor Chris Langham at Maidstone Crown Court today.

No details were given in open court as to why the man would no longer be hearing the case. The remaining seven men and four women will now carry on in his absence.

The trial of the 58-year-old from Golford, near Cranbrook, continued with defence witnesses, and has now started to draw to a close with prosecutor Richard Barraclough QC's closing speech.

David Whitehouse, QC, for Langham, is expected to deliver his speech to the jury tomorrow, followed by summing up of the case by Judge Philip Statman.

Langham, who won a BAFTA for his role in the BBC comedy The Thick of It, denies six offences of indecent assault between January 8, 1996, and April 7, 1998, two other serious sexual offences and 15 of making indecent photographs of a child in 2005.

The trial continues.