A jury failed to reach a verdict in the trial of a Maidstone United footballer accused of using a stolen bank card to withdraw £16,000 to gamble at a Playboy casino.

It was alleged Blair Turgott visited the Park Lane casino in Mayfair and withdrew two lots of gambling chips worth around £8,000 each with the card taken in a scam earlier that day.

The 23-year-old, who played for West Ham United and England under-19, then spent the evening placing bets at the luxury casino making a £900 profit on September 30, 2016, it was said.

Turgott, who made one first-team appearance for the Hammers in a 5-0 FA Cup defeat to Nottingham Forest in January 2014, was captured on CCTV withdrawing the casino tokens at around 10.20pm.

Other transactions were made on the card after it was used by Turgott to withdraw cash, it was claimed.

Police said the card was allegedly only used by Turgott twice.

The card actually belonged to Peter Dixon, 85, who was tricked into handing over his card to a telephone fraudster pretending to be from Barclays bank.

The card was collected from Mr Dixon's home.

The winger claimed the card was given to him by a friend called "Ali" who owed him £16,000 for a job interview in property development in Uganda.

After waiting around seven months to be repaid, Turgott claimed Ali handed him Mr Dixon's card saying it belonged to a friend who was letting him use it because he lost his own.

Turgott was shown WhatsApp messages on Ali's phone as proof he had permission to use the card including a screen shot of a bank transfer, it was claimed.

But following a three-day trial at Southwark Crown Court, a jury could not reach a verdict after five hours of deliberating.

Recorder Louis Weston asked the jury yesterday afternoon if they could reach a majority verdict if given more time.

But the foreman replied "no".

The Crown Prosecution Service has seven days to decide if they want to seek a retrial.

Recorder Weston said: "In the circumstances I'm going to discharge you from reaching a verdict in this case.

"The crown will be given some time to consider whether to seek a trial on another occasion."

During the trial jurors were told Turgott got into gambling at 17 and regularly gambled between £3,000 and £9,000 in casinos around the capital.

Turgott rose through the youth ranks at West Ham before being loaned out to League clubs including Colchester United and Bradford City.

He left West Ham in 2015 to join Coventry City after a series of loan spells and spent last season with Leyton Orient.

The midfielder has also appeared as an extra alongside Lord of the Ring actor Elijah Wood in football hooligan film Green Street, as well as a TV appearance on Football on 5: Goal Rush.

Currently on the books of National League club Bromley, he was due to go to Championship side Bolton Wanderers, but that move has been put on hold while the case is ongoing.

The case will next be listed on March 2 when the CPS will say if they will seek a retrial.