ShelterBox founder Tom Henderson and his son John have to wait two weeks to learn if they are to be retried over fraud allegations after a jury at the Old Bailey failed to agree on the guilt or innocence of the two men.

The jury of four women and seven men was discharged today (Thursday) after spending over 30 hours in deadlock, unable to agree on whether Tom Henderson, 65, had given his son contracts worth £1.5 million.

Tom Henderson, of Barbican Way, Helston; John Henderson, 36, of Copper Hill Hayle, and associate Darren Gervis, 43, of Beaminster in Dorset, had all denied charges of conspiracy to commit fraud between January 15, 2007 and December 31, 2012.

The jury had been out for over a week, but remained hopelessly deadlock. When discharging them, Judge Gerald Gordon, said: "They are unable to reach any verdict against any defendant and they have been in that position since Monday."

He told the jury: "It would be not only pointless, but also quite wrong to ask you to continue" and thanked them for their efforts on the case adding: "I am sure it harder work disagreeing than agreeing." The jurors were excused from serving again for seven years.

The three defendants now face a two week wait while the Crown Prosecution Service Service decide whether they should be retried.

The court had heard that Tom Henderson was responsible for "saving hundreds if not thousands of lives" after starting disaster-relief organisation ShelterBox from his garage in 2000. The former Navy diver was awarded an OBE in 2010 for his work and the Duchess of Cornwall became the charity’s president and royal patron in August 2007.

But, it was claimed, Henderson treated the charity, which received up to £20m a year from donors, as "his own personal fiefdom," putting its worldwide reputation at risk.

He allegedly ensured his son's companies were favoured to supply the charity with stoves, tents and multi-tools between 2007 and 2012 in deals worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

When trustees of the charity, which provided relief packages to victims of natural and man-made disasters, began to ask questions, the Hendersons allegedly brought in Gervis to set up "sham" companies to hide the fraud.

But Tom Henderson told the court he stayed at "arms length" from any business deals between the charity and his son. John Henderson said he believed they were only arrested because the new management needed to bolster their employment case against his father after they "screwed up" by sacking him.