Jurors in killer crash trial were offered £500 to find trio guilty
JURORS hearing the case of a gang accused of killing a pensioner when they rammed her car in a ‘cash for crash’ scam were offered £500 to return a particular verdict, a court heard yesterday.
Four jurors were offered bribes – three to return guilty verdicts and a fourth to find the gang members not guilty – and a fifth was approached by a man holding money. It was also claimed that the courthouse fire alarm was deliberately set off so the 12 jurors could be filmed leaving the building.
Yesterday – after the tampering was reported to the judge – the jury was discharged and Mr Justice Goss said he would try the case alone. It is believed to be just the second time in English history that a judge alone will decide the fate of defendants in a trial.
Driver Sabbir Hussain, 25, and his alleged passengers, Raja Hussain, 30, of Leeds, and Shahrear Islam-Miah, 26, of Oldham, are on trial at Leeds Crown Court for the alleged manslaughter of Betty Laird.
A fourth man who was in the vehicle – Muhammed Ubaidullah, 24 – has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter, conspiracy to commit fraud and attempting to pervert the court of justice.
The court heard that Mrs Laird,
‘Trial system has been thwarted’
88, was sitting in the passenger seat of a Renault Kangoo being driven by her friend Geoff Grimshaw, 77, when they were targeted at random by the men, who wanted to make fraudulent claims for compensation.
Their VW Passat was driven into the side of the Kangoo at 47mph – 17mph above the 30mph limit – leaving Mrs Laird with fatal spinal injuries, in September 2014.
Yesterday the trial, which began three weeks ago, was halted after Mr Justice Goss announced there had been a ‘concerted attempt to tamper with jurors’.
He said three jurors had been approached in Leeds city centre on Tuesday and offered £ 500 by a woman to return verdicts of guilty in the case.
It later came to light that a fourth juror had been separately approached by a man and offered the same amount to return not guilty verdicts. A fifth juror had also been followed by a different man holding what appeared to be money, the judge said.
Mr Justice Goss, who was due to begin his summing up after the conclusion of evidence, told the court: ‘ The pursuit of this man was persistent and disconcerted him to such an extent he felt he could no longer remain loyal to his jury oath and I have therefore discharged him.’
He said the bribery attempts followed an incident on Monday when the fire alarm had been activated, causing the building to be evacuated. While jurors were outside, several reported seeing a man filming them from a car, the judge added. Mr Justice Goss said that, in view of the accumulation of evidence about jury tampering, he had decided the jurors should be discharged as ‘the whole trial system has been effectively thwarted’.
He said he would deliver his verdict when the case resumed on Monday.
Under sections 44 to 46 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, a judge is allowed to continue to hear the case without a jury if there is evidence of ‘a real and present danger that jury tampering would take place’.
The Hussains both admit being in the car but claim they were unaware of any conspiracy, while Islam-Miah denies being in the car and says he was not part of any crash plan.
All three are also charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
The trial continues.