Juror drank vodka at trial

A WOMAN juror caught drinking vodka brought a halt to a multi- million-pound trial concerning an illegal trade in alcohol.

The middle-aged woman, who had listened to evidence for more than two months, started sipping vodka on Monday when the jury was sent to a private room to consider their verdicts. She had smuggled the vodka, hidden in a lemonade bottle, into Southwark Crown Court in London and became so tipsy that her fellow jurors were forced to write a note to Judge David Elfer, protesting that she was making it impossible for them to concentrate.

The judge immediately ordered them into court where he watched in amazement as the juror had to be helped to her seat. He then ordered the jury to cease deliberations and go home so she could sleep off the effects of the drink. He said: "It is plain to those who have dealt with her that she is profoundly drunk and nothing can be achieved without her having a very long sleep."

Barristers in the case expressed their concern about her remaining on the jury but the judge said he would allow her to continue. The judge told counsel that the juror had assured him her behaviour would not be repeated. He added that she had claimed she only had "one little sip" but in his opinion that was obviously untrue.

It was the 41st day of the trial and the jury had been sent out to decide whether five defendants were guilty of conspiracy to cheat the Customs and Excise of duty on wines, spirits, beers and tobacco. The next morning, the woman, deeply remorseful for her embarrassing lapse, promised it would never happen again and said she was prepared to return to the jury room. Later she wrote to the judge, apologising for her behaviour, which is understood to have been sparked by a domestic crisis.

The court had heard how Ellis "Tony" Martin masterminded a massive bootlegging plot from behind bars. Martin, 41, of Southgate, north London, pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to cheat between October 1994 and January 1997.

After a 44-day trial, the jury convicted four of his "lieutenants" of an identical charge. They were Graham Went, 55, of Marks Tey, Essex; Brian Walton, 51, of Meopham, Kent; Sukvinder Singh, 29, of Ilford, Essex, and a 41-year-old man from Poole, Dorset, who cannot be named for legal reasons.