TWO men charged with murdering a hospital boss from East Lancashire in his Texan home will not face trial for at least another eight months.

David Ward, 43, formerly of Blackburn, was found bound and strangled after a burglary at his home in Eastern Hills, Forth Worth, last May.

His alleged killers, Aaran Foust, 24, and Jarmal Brown, 21, were indicted by a jury last week and will remain in a county jail until their trial after failing to raise a bond of $500,000.

They face death by lethal injection if convicted.

However, police do not expect the pair to go in front of a jury for at least another eight months, possibly longer.

Sergeant Paul Kratz, of Fort Worth police, said: "We have a very solid case against these two and I have no doubt they will be convicted of murder. "The next step in the process is the trial but that will not be for several months.

"Unfortunately we have a very high murder rate and these two men are just waiting their turn in the system."

Mr Ward, an executive with the John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, was found when police gained entry to his home after he failed to turn up on a scheduled flight to Britain.

His worried relatives in Feniscowles, Blackburn, had contacted American police when he did did not arrive at their home for a planned holiday.

The Fort Worth community was deeply shocked at the murder of the well-known hospital boss and hundreds of people packed a memorial service days after the killing.

The accused killers were known to Mr Ward through his former flat-mate, Travis Dehorney Junior.

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