A juror who discussed details of a multimillion-pound drug trial on Facebook with one of the defendants will be sent to jail after admitting contempt of court.
In the first prosecution of its kind, Lord Judge, the most senior judge in England and Wales, said that there were no circumstances in which Joanne Fraill, 40, of Manchester, could not be given a custodial sentence.
Jamie Sewart, 34, an acquitted defendant with whom the juror chatted on the Facebook social networking site and who was also found guilty of contempt, will have her jail term suspended.Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice, said that he and his fellow judges had taken into account that while on remand Sewart, of Bolton, had been separated from her tenmonth-old baby, and they had remained apart for 14 months. It was in no one’s interests to “remove the mother from her child again”.
The three judges will sentence the two women this week when they know the result of an appeal by another defendant in the trial at Manchester Crown Court last August. Gary Knox, 35, a convicted drug dealer who was jailed for six years for conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office, is challenging his conviction on the ground of Fraill’s behaviour. Lord Judge, sitting with Lord Justice Ouseley and Mr Justice Holroyde, said that the court did not feel able to determine the sentences until they knew the outcome of that appeal.
Fraill and Sewart are the first Britons to be prosecuted for contempt of court for using the internet during a trial. The case was highlighted by The Times this week after mounting concern over the impact of the internet on jury trials.
Outside court, Sewart said: “I am happy with the suspended sentence and just want to get home. I regret everything. She [Fraill] contacted me. My mind was in a whirlwind. I had just been acquitted when I sat back and thought about it, I realised I had to report it.”
The case has been brought by Dominic Grieve, QC, the Attorney-General, and is being heard by the Lord Chief Justice in view of its importance. It is expected to lead to strict warnings to jurors about using the internet or social networking sites.
A distraught Fraill sobbed throughout the hearing at the High Court in London. The judges found the case against Sewart proved after a hearing lasting two and a half hours.
Peter Wright, QC, in mitigation, said that Fraill had seen “considerable parallels between her life and the defendant’s life”. She had “no cavalier disregard for the judicial process”, he said, and accepted that what she had done was “wholly wrong”.
Fraill had contacted Sewart after the latter’s acquittal of conspiracy to supply heroin and amphetamines. The High Court was told that the trial was stopped the next day when Sewart’s solicitor informed the court that his client and Fraill had been in contact through Facebook.
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