[2011] EWCA Crim 1173

The fact that a juror in a murder trial was a prison officer working in the same prison and on the same wing where the two defendants were detained pending trial did not automatically mean that there was an appearance of bias. The officer's employment status ought preferably to have come to light at the beginning of the trial, in which case he would have been asked to stand down as a precaution. On the evidence, however, there was nothing to suggest that the officer, through his work, had come across anything prejudicial to the defendants.

CA (Crim Div) (Richards LJ, Roderick Evans J, Judge Nicholas Cooke QC)

11/05/2011