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Juror's 'lols' land her in jail

For the second time in as many weeks, a juror has caused major havoc in the court room - this time causing the collapse of a £6 million drug trial and landing herself an eight-month jail…

June 21, 2011 By Lawyers Weekly
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For the second time in as many weeks, a juror has caused major havoc in the court room - this time causing the collapse of a £6 million drug trial and landing herself an eight-month jail sentence thanks to her inappropriate social networking.

As reported by Rollonfriday, UK juror Mancunian Joanne Frail was jailed after contacting the defendant in a major drug trial, Jamie Sewart, through Facebook - despite repeated instructions from the judge not to do so.

The juror's messages were apparently full of 'lols' and included details of the jury's deliberations.

Not surprisingly, Sewart, who happily took part in the Facebook banter with Frail, was grateful for the contact, asking her for information and requesting that she "keep in touch" with the promise of "a nice pressie". Lucky Frail.

Apparently aware that her Facebook chitchat would get her into strife, Frail asked Sewart to keep their communications on the down-low as she would "get 4cked".

Frail, clearly more interested in Sewart than her duties as a juror, told Sewart "all that note-taking was just killing time. Lol. Drew more than I wrote lol".

In another act in contempt of court, Frail also admitted to researching another defendant on the internet.

According to Rollonfriday, Frail wept and collapsed in court as her sentence was handed down.

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