The mother of the man accused of killing Qatari student Mohammed al-Majed has been charged with helping her son escape arrest.
Jacqueline Austin appeared at Lewes Crown Court this week charged with perverting the course of justice. It is alleged she drover her son George to Gatwick Airport and gave him money for a flight to Paphos in Cyprus.
This despite the fact she kne
w the 21-year-old was being hunted by police in connection with the death of the foreign language student.
Mohammed al-Majed died two days after he was attacked outside USA Fried Chicken and Kebab on Hastings seafront.
Austin, 43 of Chelmsford in Essex, pleaded not guilty to the charge on Tuesday and was released on unconditional bail. She will now be tried on November 30 at Lewes.
Son George, of Bermondsey in East London, was arrested after flying back to the UK from Cyprus on November 20 last year - one day after police arrested his mum.
He has denied a charge of manslaughter will go on trial with two other men on September 21.
Paul Rockett, 20, of Ham Lane, Burwash, has denied racially aggravated common assault on one of Mohammed's friends and Alexander Quinn, 18, of Mountbatten Close, denies wounding another.
Mohammed had been studying at EF International Language School in White Rock for the five weeks leading up to the late-night attack on August 22 last year.
His grieving family flew to Hastings from the Middles East to visit the spot in which he was attacked and to join in a town-wide two minutes silence.
They later returned to Qatar after publicly putting their faith in local police to catch the teenager's killer.
