Juror on trial for saying drug baron is not guilty before hearing evidence

A JUROR attempted to “fix” a drug kingpin’s trial, declaring he was “not guilty, not guilty” before even discussing the case, a court has heard.

Damien Drackley was allegedly promised £5,000 to sway fellow jurors in the Warwick Crown Court case of Leslie Allen. It was part of a “concerted attempt” by Allen, 66, to evade justice in 2018 after being caught with £150,000 of cocaine and cannabis, the Old Bailey was told.

He was later sentenced to 13 years in jail.

While on bail, Allen also allegedly got two witnesses to lie for him, with one of them, nicknamed “Del Boy”, winking at juror Mr Drackley from the witness box.

But the plot “unravelled” after Mr Drackley’s fellow jurors sent notes to the trial judge, Andrew Lockhart KC, expressing concern, while discussing the case, the Old Bailey heard.

The court was told there had been a “running commentary” between the “compromised juror” Mr Drackley, his mother Lorraine Frisby, the defendant Allen, his intermediaries including Mark Walker, and defence witnesses Laurence Hayden – aka Del Boy – and Daniel Porter.

Mr Drackley, 37, from Nuneaton, Warwickshire; Allen, from Coventry,

West Midlands; Walker, 57, from Coventry; and Hayden, 53, from Coventry, have denied conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Frisby, 55, from Birmingham, has admitted the charge and Porter, from Birmingham, has since died, the court was told.

The trial at the Old Bailey continues.