Chelsea Hyndman's alleged killer allowed to return home

A British man has accused of murdering his West Yorkshire girlfriend on the holiday island of Crete has been granted bail to the UK.

Luke Walker, 24, from Dudley, West Midlands, has always denied killing 20-year-old Chelsea Hyndman.

Miss Hyndman, from Castleford, died after she was taken to hospital with abdominal pains in May 2010.

Greek prosecutors claim she was beaten by Walker, who is charged with one count of murder at Heraklion Mixed Criminal Court. But Walker says she fell during a night out in the nearby resort town of Malia, where the pair were living and working as bar staff.

Two post-mortem examinations have been carried out on the 20-year-old's body, evidence from which is expected to play a key role in the trial.

On Monday Miss Hyndman's mother Heather Hyndman, who was in court for the trial, said the loss of her daughter has left a horrendous gap in her life. Ms Hyndman, 47, of Castleford, said no verdict could ever bring her daughter back.

The court sat for less than an hour before adjourning because key prosecution witnesses had not been summoned.

Many of the witnesses in the case had flown in from Britain. Chelsea's mother, Heather, and her family also attended and sat in the front rows of the public gallery.

Walker's solicitor, George Pyromallis, asked that the defendant be allowed to return to England on bail. Walker has spent the last two-and-a-half years in Crete, initially on remand for five months before he was granted bail on the condition he does not leave the island.

The Walker family were emotional, some in tears, as the court granted bail to the UK. Speaking after the hearing, Luke said it was the "best outcome so far".

He will return to Brierley Hill with his family and may work in the family's electrical business. Miss Hyndman's family left without speaking to the media.