- Man ignored warnings to ‘favourite’ local newspaper report about the case
A murder trial collapsed yesterday for the second time after a juror highlighted a court report to more than 400 followers on Twitter.
The middle-aged male doctor, who cannot be named, had ignored warnings and ‘favourited’ a local newspaper’s report of the case in which a 16-year-old boy is the defendant.
The trial had already been halted on Tuesday when the jury was discharged after a female member became ill.
A new jury was sworn in to resume the case yesterday but has now also been discharged.
A third jury is set to be installed to restart the hearing today.
The hearing at Cardiff Crown Court is costing the taxpayer an estimated £3,000 a day and is expected to last ten days once it gets underway again.
The Twitter user at the centre of the latest hold-up had been warned twice not to access social media by the judge.
Mrs Justice Dame Nicola Davies told the court: ‘This is a professional man and he should have known better. I warned this man twice not to access social media before the trial. Before we even got to social media, there was a warning not to discuss this case with anyone at all.
‘This is a man with 400 followers and by favouriting a tweet, either if you like it or you want to save it, you are inviting a discussion with these 400 people.’
A key witness in the trial had identified the juror in question.
via Daily Mail
