Contempt of court

It was settled law that a juror might be in contempt of court. It was a long established principle of common law that the introduction of extraneous material, that was non-evidential material, constituted an irregularity in the jury system. In every case, the defendant, and for that matter, the prosecution, was entitled as a matter of elementary justice not to be subject to a verdict reached on the basis of material or information known to the jury but which was not in evidence at the trial.

Quite apart from contempt of court at common law, s 8(1) of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 provided for the confidentiality of the deliberations of the jury. The offence was committed by anyone who deliberately solicited information about any aspect of a jury’s deliberations, whether in the course of the trial or after its conclusion. Modern technology and the means of communications were advancing at an ever increasing speed. Reference to the internet was inculcated as a matter of habit into many members of the