Juror in Liam’s trial left ‘scarred for life’
A JUROR who listened to weeks of harrowing evidence on the murder of toddler Liam Fee believes the case has left him with lifelong mental scars.
Alan Tait sat in the trial of Rachel Trelfa and Nyomi Fee for four weeks before he was excused by the judge because of illness.
It meant he did not take part in reaching the guilty verdict – but he said the testimony was so disturbing that he has suffered flashbacks and sleeplessness.
Mr Tait, a financial services worker, was called up for jury duty at the High Court in Livingston on April 11.
At first, he said, it was ‘exciting’ to be selected for a high-profile trial. But he said that lasted only as long as it took to read out the charges against the two accused women.
He said: ‘You realise this is going to be a hard slog, this is something I would much rather not be here doing, but at the same time this needs doing and I’m going to have to find a way to get through this.’
Ultimately, that proved impossible. Mr Tait, from West Lothian, said: ‘I have a five-year-old daughter who is six months older than Liam would have been. And you see all the life in her and you think what happened to him.’
Much of his four weeks as a juror was spent watching video interviews of two boys abused by Trelfa and Fee. Mr Tait described being disturbed by the catalogue of horrors they narrated, including being forced into makeshift cages, with their wrists bound with cable ties.
He said he was also haunted by a 360 degree photograph in which two-year-old Liam can be seen lying dead.
‘That is burned into my mind,’ Mr Tait told BBC Scotland.
‘I can’t get that picture out of my head. I wake up in the middle of the night and it’s there. And I have dreams about being in a cage.’ He added: ‘There are things I don’t think will ever really leave me. It’s one of the most traumatic parts of my life. There are some things burnt into my brain.’
Counselling is available to jurors who seek it out but some academics believe it should be given as a matter of course.
Clinical psychologist Dr Noelle Robertson said jurors may experience symptoms similar to post traumatic stress disorder.
‘Jurors might experience flashbacks, they might experience imagery that they’ve witnessed during the trial, they might remember some of the distressing testimony,’ she said. ‘They might find that they are more irritable, prone to tearfulness, and feel that the world’s a different, less safe place.’
Leading QC Derek Ogg said some jurors had to listen to the most ‘appalling and dreadful things’ and could be offered more support. He added: ‘The public are excluded, remember, from horrendous parts of trials, but the jury sit there and listen with no warning at all.’
Mr Tait fell ill four weeks into the trial and was excused from the jury by Lord Burns.
He said: ‘It was really hard. I was by myself with this and there wasn’t anybody I could talk to.’
Both Trelfa and Fee were found guilty of Liam’s murder and are due to be sentenced tomorrow.
‘It is burned into my mind’