Corrupt ex-school worker prosecuted in Scots legal first after pocketing £3k
BY JAMES MULHOLLAND A MUM who took a bribe while serving as a juror during a drugs trial has been jailed for six years.
Catherine Leahy, 62, trousered almost £3000 in payments while deliberating during proceedings at the High Court in Glasgow.
The ex-classroom assistant was caught after police received a tip-off that she had broken bribery laws.
Detectives decided to bug her home in the city’s Springboig and collected enough evidence to prove she had broken the law.
Leahy was the spokeswoman on a jury who acquitted Graham Clark of drugs charges. Prosecutors are considering whether to try Clark again.
Yesterday, Leahy’s lawyer Thomas Ross QC told the High Court in Edinburgh his client cared for her parents and husband before they died and added that prison would be “extremely difficult” for her.
It is the first case of its type in Scottish legal history.
LORD TURNBULL HIGH COURT IN EDINBURGH
No jurors had previously been prosecuted in Scotland for corrupt behaviour.
Passing sentence, Lord Turnbull said: “To agree to accept a bribe from, or on behalf of, the accused while serving as a juror in that High Court trial involved conduct that is such a serious breach of the public duty that forms a cornerstone of our freedom.”
Last month, prosecutor Iain McSporran QC told the court that police discovered four payments of £300, £1000, £1200 and £330 were made to Leahy’s accounts between April 19 and June 2, 2016.
Leahy denied the accusations and claimed the money came from a cheque from a British Shipbuilders pension and