Trial of David Drumm loses seven members of jury on second day

THE David Drumm fraud trial jury lost seven members yesterday after the judge excused them from serving.

They had been sworn in on Wednesday along with eight other jurors to serve in the trial of former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive Mr Drumm, who is charged with conspiracy to defraud and false accounting.

Mr Drumm (51), who lives in Skerries, Co Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Judge Karen O’Connor had told potential jurors the trial could take up to five months, which would be a considerable time commitment.

The 12-member norm for juries was expanded to 15 for the Drumm case to deal the potential problems of jurors no longer being capable of continuing to serve as the weeks go by.

As the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court sitting got underway, Judge O’Connor announced that she had received correspondence from some jurors about their personal circumstances. She considered their requests overnight and had decided to allow them be excused.

The judge spoke with other members of the jury, and in total seven were excused and the process of empanelling their replacements began.

The judge told the new jury their services would not be needed until January 29 as the legal teams on both sides would be entering into legal arguments to be held in the absence of the jury. She told them this was completely normal.

Mr Drumm is charged with conspiring with former Anglo executives John Bowe and Willie McAteer, former Irish Life and Permanent chief executive Denis Casey and others to defraud depositors, lenders and investors at Anglo by dishonestly creating the impression that deposits in 2008 were €7.2bn larger than they were.