HUGS, SIGHS AND TEARS OF RELIEF
Under the intense light tension rose in a heated courtroom. The moment had arrived
Clasped hands squeezed tightly
He took aim at the PSNI
A DEEP but restrained sigh of relief was Paddy Jackson’s only reaction as the jury foreman read out his verdict of not guilty.
The tension had been palpable in the seconds beforehand, in Courtroom 12 of Belfast Crown Court.
Mr Jackson, his team-mate Stuart Olding and their friends Blane McIlroy and Rory Harrison stood shoulder to shoulder in the glass dock hands clasped before them.
Their parents, siblings and friends looked as if they were holding their breaths when the jury filed back into the deathly silent courtroom, after deliberating for a surprisingly brief three hours and 45 minutes.
Mr Jackson’s mother sat beside her daughter with their hands entwined, appearing to be transfixed on the foreman who stood to deliver the verdict after nine long weeks.
The Ireland and Ulster rugby player’s father, brother and childhood friend leaned forward to the foreman, looking directly at Judge Patricia Smyth, as she said: ‘Not guilty.’ But Paddy Jackson’s gaze remained fixed straight, he didn’t even steal a fleeting glimpse behind him at his family.
His mother and sister wiped tears that streamed down their faces and squeezed tightly their clasped hands. His father slumped back in his chair and slowly reached out to give his other son’s arm a squeeze and a restrained smile.
There was a hushed sigh, a release of breaths and then a muted congratulatory mumble rippled through the packed public gallery where Mr Jackson and his co-defendants’ family and relatives were sitting, mingled with members of the public.
It was clear they had taken very seriously the judge’s warning, before the jury returned, that if there was ‘any reaction at all’ she would clear the public gallery.
Like a strict headmistress Judge Smyth sternly peered over the glasses perched on her nose and told the crowded courtroom: ‘Any reaction from anyone in this courtroom and I will stop proceedings and have the public gallery cleared. Is that understood?’ Raising her voice slightly she repeat: ‘Any reaction at all.’
Adding: ‘This is a very difficult task for the foreman.’
Then Mr Olding’s verdict of not guilty was delivered.
Dressed in a navy suit and crisp white shirt, Mr Olding’s only reaction was a slight smile. And when Mr McIlroy and Mr Harrison were also found not guilty, a number of people, who appeared to be family and supporters of the woman at the centre of the rape trial, stood up and walked out.
After nine weeks Mr Jackson, Mr McIlroy and Mr Harrison walked from the glass dock for the last time, discreetly search the public gallery for eye contact with their family. It was only when they were in the corridor that tears began to flow freely. Mr Jackson hugged his parents and siblings as the strain of the trial ebbed from his face.
A childhood friend, who had sat loyally every day beside his family in the stuffy courtroom, under intense lights, embraced him as Mr Jackson smiled.
But the muted celebrations did not stop Mr Jackson spotting a woman who appeared to be recording the scenes and alerting a security guard.
They then hugged their barristers and other counsel all still donning their traditional black cloaks and wigs.
Phrases such as ‘we did it’, ‘well done’, ‘that’s it’ and ‘it’s over’ echoed through the fourth floor corridor. Mr Harrison’s mother went to shake the hand of a junior counsel but he threw his arms around her telling her he was ‘not going to be fobbed off’ with a handshake.
Mr Olding had to remain behind for a little longer, alone in the dock he had shared with his friends for the trial, due to a technicality over a charge.
As the jury filed out for the last time, Mr Olding was then allowed to join his family and friends in the crowded corridor, but with tears in his eyes, he stood momentarily on his own, looking slightly dazed, before Mr Harrison approached him, hugged him and slapped him on the back.
Mr McIlroy was the first of the four men to leave Laganside Courts. Along with his mother and counsel he smiled as he strolled past the enormous crowd of waiting media and spectators who had gath-
ered, with a handful breaking into applause.
Mr Jackson was the next to emerge from the courthouse, striding confidently into the sunshine, looking unfazed by the massive media scrum before him. Walking undaunted towards the sea of journalists, photographers and cameramen, pushing and shoving to get close, he positioned himself in the middle of his family and his counsel.
He thanked the jury, his parents and brother and sister and added: ‘Out of respect for my employers I have nothing further to comment.’ His solicitor was not so coy, however.
In a commanding, booming voice, Joe McVeigh took aim at the PSNI, prosecution service and the complainant herself.
‘Paddy has been consistent in his denials and in his account,’ he said.
‘Consistency had never been a feature of the complainant’s evidence, long before she entered the witness box. So these acquittals should come as no surprise to anyone.
‘Paddy leaves court for the last time today as he entered it almost ten weeks ago – an innocent man.’
In a final oratorical flourish, he concluded that Paddy would now be getting back on the rugby pitch, ‘representing his province and his country’.
This pledge prompted a shout of ‘hear, hear’ from a male member of the public.
By the time Stuart Olding’s solicitor made a statement on his client’s behalf, the contrast in style, tone and content couldn’t have been more projury nounced. Paul Dougan read out: ‘I am sorry for the hurt that was caused to the complainant. It was never my intention to cause any upset to anyone on that night. I don’t agree with her perception of events and I maintain that everything that happened on that evening was consensual.’
Mr Harrison had earlier left the courtroom alone with his family following some distance behind. After sitting shoulder to shoulder during the long trial, all four left separately yesterday.
Much like their restrained, controlled reaction to the not-guilty verdicts yesterday, Mr Jackson, Mr Olding, Mr McIlroy and Mr Harrison had rarely given away their thoughts or emotions while the jury was present.
In contrast, during the jury’s absence or breaks in the hearing, they struck a more relaxed air. In these moments, they could be seen chatting casually among themselves, appearing to share jokes in the corridor outside the court or in the public gallery with their family and friends. On their return to the dock, placing their phones – which had been central in the evidence given throughout the rape trial – at the door or giving them to their family before entering, they resumed their positions, giving nothing away.
It was not just the eyes of the that had been on them for these two months, as members of the public piled into the gallery every day to witness the trial that had captured the country’s imagination.
The queues of spectators, standing with the men’s family and friends, had snaked down the corridor of the fourth floor of Laganside courthouse most days as they waited patiently to ensure they got a seat.
Unlike a rape trial in the Republic, members of the public in the North are allowed to walk off the street to observe the proceedings. And they did. In their droves.
There was the sense of a Roman colosseum, with one woman admitting that she had been making the pilgrimage to the trial almost every day.
The court security staff had their hands full urgently tapping the glass window indicating to members of the public to put away their smartphones.
On one occasion, a woman nibbling on a packed lunch she had brought with her was told by security that she would have to leave the courtroom if she wanted a picnic; while an elderly woman crocheted as she patiently waited for the verdict.
Today, for the first time in nine weeks, Paddy Jackson, Stuart Olding, Blane McIlroy and Rory Harrison, will have woken up knowing they won’t have to make the trek to Courtroom 12 of Belfast Crown Court. They are free men. Now the court of public opinion will have its say.
All four left separately