Juror jailed for online research about accused

Jan 24, 2012 |

IANS

London

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A woman juror in Britain has been sentenced to six months in prison for contempt of court after conducting an internet search on a man whose case she was hearing.

Lecturer Theodora Dallas, 34, discovered that the man had previously been acquitted of rape and she told her fellow jurors about it. It led the trial at Luton Crown Court last July to be abandoned, the Daily Express reported.

Dallas, a Greek national who denied contempt, was at the time a psychology lecturer at Bedfordshire University, in Luton town. She disobeyed the judge's instructions not to seek information on internet, London's high court heard.

Attorney General Dominic Grieve, who brought the prosecution, said later on Radio 4's World At One: "It is central to the fairness of our trial process that only what is heard in court should determine the jury's verdict."

The man, however, was later retried for assault and jailed.

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