The jury in the trial of a bus driver accused of killing a Cambridge medical student in Hampstead has been dismissed today (Wednesday) after the case against him collapsed.

Shahriar Firouzian, 52, was charged with causing the death of Mingwei Tan by careless driving. Ms Tan, 20, was hit outside Marks & Spencer in Pond Street and dragged for half a mile passed Belsize Park Tube station where her body was discovered in the early hours of September 30, 2010.

Firouzian, of Harrow Way in Watford, denied the charge, saying he thought he had run over a bottle initially and then a fox.

The jury at Blackfriars Crown Court was told there was no realistic prospect of a conviction and a verdict of not guilty was entered by Judge John Hillen.

Iranian-born Firouzian had been set to give evidence to the court yesterday (Wednesday), but prosecutor Hamish Reid told jurors that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had conducted a review and decided not to proceed with the case.

He said: “The Crown Prosecution Service are satisfied there is no longer a realistic prospect of conviction and would not seek to take this any further.”

The judge told the jury that “no doubt there will be a review” into the case by the CPS.

He said: “It sometimes felt as if I was sitting as a coroner and you were a coroner’s jury. That was never the purpose in this case.”