A CHINESE fraudster accused of murdering a millionaire Hampstead author faces a retrial after the jury failed to reach a verdict. On Monday, 46-year-old Wang Yam was found guilty of impersonating 86-year-old Allan Chappelow to transfer £20,000 from his ba

A CHINESE fraudster accused of murdering a millionaire Hampstead author faces a retrial after the jury failed to reach a verdict.

On Monday, 46-year-old Wang Yam was found guilty of impersonating 86-year-old Allan Chappelow to transfer £20,000 from his bank account.

A celebrated biographer of George Bernard Shaw, Mr Chappelow was found dead under a pile of papers at his £2.5million house on Downshire Hill in June 2006 - he had been tortured and battered to death.

On Tuesday lunchtime, the foreman of the jury handed the judge a note, explaining the jury's difficulty in reaching a 10-to-two majority verdict on the murder charge.

Later in the afternoon the judge confirmed the jury was unable to reach a verdict.

Yam is awaiting sentencing for the fraud and now faces the prospect of a fresh murder trial after the prosecution indicated there would be a retrial.

The case has taken nearly two months and mystery has surrounded it all along as large parts of evidence were heard 'in camera' for reasons of national security.

Yam had left the country the day after Mr Chappelow's body was discovered, but was arrested in Switzerland and extradited to the UK in October 2006.

Yam's defence team has claimed Mr Chappelow was tortured either by Chinese Triads, the Israeli Secret Service (Mossad) or Albanian gangsters.