Tragic widow Jo Pollard today spoke of her dismay at another delay in the trial of the three men accused of killing her husband.

The trial in Hungary, where Michael Pollard was bludgeoned in a robbery, was postponed when the main defendant claimed his confession was given under duress.

Mrs Pollard, 56, of Baildon, said: "I really thought that the case would finally be over and that would be it.

"I would have seen it through to the end and then I could start the grieving process. Now because of the new evidence about one of the men, I could even have to go back to the court in Hungary again."

The trial of three Hungarians accused of beating Mr Pollard, a clergyman, to death was postponed last night. Attila Bilec, 23, a driver, Istvan Dudas, 19, an unemployed bricklayer, and Laszlo Mester, 23, an unemployed cobbler, pleaded guilty last month to robbery but deny manslaughter.

Dudas, a former disco bouncer, had previously signed a confession that he had beaten Mr Pollard. But today he told the court in Nyiregyhaza he had been involved in the robbery but had not assaulted anyone.

"Eight policemen grilled me the night I was arrested, and I signed a confession not even knowing what I was signing." His companions had claimed Dudas was guilty of the beating which led to Mr Pollard's death.

Mr Pollard, 63, and his wife were attacked while en route to Romania with charity gifts.

The couple's van broke down last August near Nyiregyhaza, 100 miles east of Budapest, and they parked in a no-parking zone.

Two men claiming to be policemen approached them and demanded a £12 fine for illegal parking, giving Pollard a ticket they had received days earlier for a traffic violation. The pair then returned with a third man who police identified as the man who beat Pollard so hard that he died on the spot when blood entered his lungs.

Mrs Pollard, who was beaten unconscious, testified last week, and was not in the courtroom, having returned to England for another operation on her jaw, broken in the assault.

She regained consciousness after the assault and flagged down a passing vehicle for help. The men were arrested after police found the parking ticket, revealing the identity of one of them.

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