In brief
The Law Lords have overturned a rape conviction after a trial was ruled unlawful because a Crown Prosecution Service solicitor served on the jury. The solicitor had declared his profession to the court but served as a juror following changes to eligibility rules under the Criminal Justice Act 2003. In the conjoined case of R v Williamson (on appeal from the Court of Appeal) (Criminal Division) it was claimed that his presence amounted to bias. In his judgment, Lord Cornhill said it was clear that “justice is not seen to be done if one discharging the very important neutral role of juror is a full-time, salaried, long-serving employee of the prosecutor”.
