Bungling jury foreman clears alleged killers in £1million trial by mistake

THREE men were mistakenly acquitted of killing a man when a blundering jury foreman made a ‘mistake’ in a £1million trial.

Brothers Paul and Matthew Yusuff and their friend Moussa Traore were accused of stabbing Adrian Keise, 32, to death during a scuffle outside a bar in 2022.

After a two-month trial at the Old Bailey, the jury reached their verdict on the case on Wednesday – and the court assembled to hear the decision.

The trio were jubilant when the foreman told the court that the jury had reached a unanimous ‘not guilty’ verdict.

However, in extraordinary scenes, the celebrations were cut short and the men were called back by the judge and told that the foreman had written a note to say she had made a mistake.

Judge Charles Gratwicke told the court: ‘Within a few minutes of leaving court, the jury indicated they made a mistake.

‘I asked the foreman to write me a note as to what the mistake was. What is clear from the note is the jury foreman did not take on board the question “are you unanimous?” despite the fact it was asked twice. It is clear from the note that they are not unanimous.’

The jury, which had been reduced from the original 12 to six men and five women when one of the original panel died, then retired again.

There was further confusion when the panel returned to the court yesterday and the same foreman announced there had been no verdicts on any of the charges. She then corrected herself and announced Paul Yusuff had been cleared of one of the charges which related to possessing a blade.

The trial the had to be abandoned after jurors were unable to reach verdicts on the more serious charges of murder and manslaughter.

The Yusuff brothers, 21 and 23, were charged with murder over the stabbing near London’s Waterloo station in October 2022. They were also charged with manslaughter along with Traore, 24.

Following the case, defence barrister Kerim Fuad KC, said he remained ‘extremely troubled’ by what had happened.

Prosecutors now have until January 19 to consider whether to seek a retrial.

‘Extremely troubling’