British justice was shown to be the best in the world yesterday when a juror who made the mistake of doing internet research about the case she was trying was jailed for six months.
Three judges at the High Court found 34-year-old psychology lecturer Dr Theodora Dallas guilty of contempt of court. Earlier this year she caused the trial of Barry Medlock for grievous bodily harm to be abandoned when she told fellow jurors that he had previously been acquitted of rape.
Dallas has not been given leave to appeal.
"Jolly good too," said EIF News & Features' legal editor, Harlech Plunge-Poole. "They should throw away the key if you ask me.
"There's too much contempt for the justice system around at the moment... newspapers printing names, addresses and photographs of people they have a damned good idea are going to be central to cases; trying people in the Press before the police have even charged someone; digging up the past on completely innocent people.. the list is endless.
"Thank blind Justice they've finally picked on an otherwise harmless and powerless woman and shown that ignorance is no defence. Hopefully, it will send out a strong message."
