The defendant was charged with attempting to handle stolen tyres, a juror, with highly specialised knowledge of tyre manufacturing asked, after retirement, and was allowed by the judge to take this knowledge into account.
Held: Where a juror was known to have brought to the trial his own specialised knowledge in a way which may have affected the decision of the jury, a re-trial should be ordered. Such knowledge in a juror was not the same as the knowledge of a magistrate, and gave no opportunity to defence counsel to test the validity of it.
Citations:
Times 13-Jul-1999, Gazette 28-Jul-1999, [1999] EWCA Crim 1773
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Karakaya CACD 16-Feb-2005
No Internet Research for juror
After conclusion of the trial, the jury bailiff discovered notes in the jury room which indictated that the jury, after they had retired for their verdict, had read and discussed notes obtained by a juror from the Internet relating to the case.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 25 October 2022; Ref: scu.85263