A COVENTRY man has been jailed, along with one from Nuneaton and one from Birmingham, for their part in tampering with a jury.
The trio received their sentences at the Central Criminal Court (The Old Bailey) in London.
Last month, Mark Walker, Leslie Allen, Laurence Hayden, and Damien Drackley were convicted of several offences relating to a trial from 2018 with Lorraine Frisby having previously pleaded guilty to two charges.
Allen, 66, of Longford Road, Coventry was sentenced to five years for conspiring to pervert the course of public justice.
Drackley, 37, of Diamond Walk, Nuneaton received four years for conspiring to pervert the course of public justice, being a member of a jury engaged in prohibited conduct and intentionally disclosing a jury’s deliberations.
And Frisby, 55, of West Boulevard, Birmingham was handed two years three months for conspiring to pervert the course of public justice and soliciting the disclosure of jury deliberations.
Walker, 57, of Minton Road, Coventry, is due to be sentenced today (Thursday, February 2) for conspiring to pervert the course of public justice.
Hayden fled to Spain
Hayden, 53, of St Nicholas Street, Coventry, left the UK in June 2022, voluntarily absenting himself from the trial. he was found guilty in his absence.
A warrant was issued and he was arrested in Spain last month.
Having refused a voluntary extradition, he will be formally extradited in the coming months and will be sentenced upon his extradition for conspiring to pervert the course of public justice.
The offences took place back in November 2018, a trial took place at Warwick Crown Court relating to Allen and drugs offences in the West Midlands.
Drackley was one of the jurors on the case.
Evidence found Drackley was talking about the case with his mother, Frisby, who had connections to other people that knew the defendant.
Two of those connections – Walker and Hayden – were found to have passed information discussed by the jury to Allen, which had been provided to them by Frisby.
After suspicions were raised in the courtroom, Drackley’s phone was seized and examined, where it was found to show multiple recordings between him and his mother.
In those recordings they discussed the case and ways they could encourage the jury to find Allen not guilty so they could ‘benefit’ from his acquittal.
The jury was dismissed, Allen was found guilty by the Judge and sentenced to 13 years in jail.
An investigation began, which led to Drackley and Frisby being arrested.
Evidence showed Frisby had relayed information to Walker. He in turn spoke to Hayden, and from there, passed it onto the defendant, Allen. Hayden and Walker were arrested in March 2019.
‘Can’t play the system’
Det Insp Collette O’Keefe said: “This was a concerted effort by the people involved to take advantage of the judicial system – all so Allen could avoid a lengthy prison sentence.
“Drackley sought to undermine his public duty for his own financial gain and involved his mother, Hayden, and Walker in that plan.
“Not only did the plan fail spectacularly, but all five have now ended up behind bars.
“Thankfully these cases are extremely rare, but nonetheless, it has taken a meticulous police investigation to root out the offenders and I want to praise the team involved for their hard work and commitment.
“I’d also like to thank the Warwick jury and court staff who helped ensure the case made it to court.
“This proves you can’t play the system and the defendants will now have plenty of time to consider that as they sit behind bars.”
