Judge Deborah Taylor dismissed the jury after an 18-week trial, saying it was not ‘right and proper’ to continue after Rogberg, 51, suffered a heart attack on 1 February.

Rogberg is currently in hospital awaiting surgery.

The Serious Fraud Office will decide in early March whether to pursue a re-trial, with some reports saying it could be in September 2018.

The trial had previously been delayed by a week due to the Judge falling ill during her summing up, with a futhur two week delay because a juror went on holiday.

Rogberg along with Chris Bush, former Tesco boss and John Scouler, former commercial food director, faced allegations of fraud and false accounting over a £250m profit black hole, which came to light in 2014. All three deny the charges.

Report by Amy Austin