A fraud trial may go ahead without a jury following findings of jury tampering, Court of Appeal judges ruled today.
The court was ruling on an appeal by four defendants following a ruling by a Crown court judge. The court heard that the jury retired on day 39 to consider verdicts on several defendants accused of nine counts of fraud against HMRC and car finance amounting to just under £700,000.
Days after the jury retired, a note was submitted stating that a juror had been approached on two occasions by two different parties a fortnight previously. The court heard the juror who was approached ‘was fearful for their family’. During the course of deliberations, all jurors heard of the approaches.
The Crown court judge discharged the whole jury and ordered that the trial would continue without one.
Following a hearing this morning, Lady Chief Justice Carr, sitting with Lord Justice Edis and Mr Justice Griffiths, said the judge had been correct. ‘Jury tampering did not find its reward in an otherwise fair trial being stopped’, the lady chief justice said, noting that a retrial would be ‘unlikely to be listed before 2025’.
She added: ‘We are not persuaded by the suggestion of procedural unfairness by the facts of this case. It is difficult to see, on the facts, how there could have ever been a different outcome on the discharge. The judge was right to conclude that the judge could continue fairly without a jury. There is no question of apparent or direct bias. The length and timing of the trial [meant] the judge was well placed to assess his ability to assess the trial fairly.’
Looking to the eventual verdict, Lady Carr said the judge would give detailed reasons ‘after opportunity for all counsel to make further…submissions’.
She added that there were ‘no concerns about the judge’s assessment’ and the reasons he had given for continuing the trial were ‘compelling’.
The judge’s order to continue the trial without a jury was confirmed and the appeal dismissed.
