The clash between law and technology continues. This year we've had Twitter injunctions, hacking, jail-breaking, patent battles, privacy concerns and now we can add contempt in court to the list as the first juror to be prosecuted for the offence as a result of online activity was convicted today and sentenced to eight months in jail.
Mother-of-three Joanne Fraill admitted to using Facebook to communicate with a defendant in a drug trial at London’s High Court.
The 40-year-old used the social networking website to swap messages with defendant Jamie Sewart in a Manchester Crown Court drug trial. Fraill had said to Sewart, “cant get anywaone to go either no one budging pleeeeeese dont say anyhting cause jamie they could call mmiss trial and i will get 4cked to0.”
Well, she was right, she did get f****d and there was indeed a retrial due to the incident, brining the cost of the case to £6 million.
Solicitor General Edward Garnier QC stated "The jury system is a cornerstone of our society and confidence in this vital part of our criminal justice system will crumble if jurors do not take their responsibilities seriously."
It just goes to show, they rules are the same online than offline, but then it seems that Fraill knew this, she just thought she could get away with it.
One thought on “6 Months Jail For Facebook Contempt of Court Woman.”
Makes me wonder how they found out. She didn’t tell them, he wouldn’t have, that can only leave FaceBook snooping our private messages.