Originally pencilled in for this autumn, the trial of MNS Mining and the colliery manager over the deaths of four miners in the drift mine in Rhos in 2011 will certainly be postponed until 2014. Since the charges were laid, counsel for Malcolm Fyfield has advised that his client may not be fit to plead. A hearing in Swansea today ruled that a determination as to fitness to plead will, having allowed for reports to be drawn up by experts for both prosecution and defence, be held in the first week of September, subject to the availability of the trial judge. Because the trial will take between three and four months, and because of restrictions imposed by the judge's calendar, it was decided to aim for a trial start date in January 2014, thus avoiding a break over Christmas.
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