LONDON (Reuters) – A juror who contacted a defendant through the Facebook social networking website, causing a multi-million pound trial to collapse, was jailed for eight months on Thursday in a British legal first.
Joanne Fraill, 40, was the first person in Britain to be convicted of contempt of court involving the internet, and the Solicitor General said her case should serve as a warning to other jurors.
"I hope it will act as a deterrent," Edward Garnier told reporters, saying it had been in the public interest to prosecute.
"It's important that the integrity of our justice system and the integrity of our jury system is maintained and preserved and seen to be so."
Fraill admitted at London's High Court to using Facebook to exchange messages with Jamie Sewart, 34, a female defendant who had been acquitted in an ongoing drug trial in the northern English city of Manchester last year.
She also admitted conducting an internet search into Sewart's boyfriend, Gary Knox, a co-defendant, while the jury was still deliberating.
Taxpayers were left picking up a bill of 6 million pounds ($10 million) after the judge was forced to discharge the jury when Fraill's actions came to light when Sewart told her lawyer.
Fraill, who the court heard had contacted Sewart because she empathized with her, put her head on the table and sobbed uncontrollably as her jail term was announced.
