Juror 'claimed she knew case'

Dec 12 2006 By Mike Taylor, The Journal

A member of the jury which convicted former aircraft engineer Andrew Adams of murder 13 years ago remarked to fellow jurors that she "knew this case" and he and his co-accused were guilty, the Court of Appeal heard yesterday.

Three judges hearing a fresh appeal by Adams, who alleges the verdict against him was "biased", were told that a woman juror had remarked on several occasions outside the jury room during the trial that she knew "these lads are guilty".

Evidence of the woman's remarks was given yesterday by a fellow juror - referred to only as "Juror 9" - who told the appeal judges the "passing comment" was repeated by the woman "numerous times".

Other jurors said "this can't be right", but the comments were not reported to the jury foreman or to the trial judge, Mr Justice Ognall.

"I thought it was just a passing comment, the way people say things," said Juror 9, whose identity and gender cannot be disclosed for legal reasons.

Adams, now 36, was convicted at Newcastle Crown Court in 1993 of blasting to death a retired science teacher, grandfather Jack Royal, 57, of Laburnum Grove, Sunniside, Gateshead, at 11.35pm on March 19 in 1990. His co-accused, John Hands, was acquitted.

The shooting was said to have been a revenge killing for the fatal stabbing by Royal of a man during a street fight in Sunniside in 1987. Royal had been cleared after two trials heard he had acted in self-defence against David Thompson, his son's 29-year-old former business partner.

Adams, who was 23 at the time of the trial, of Chapel Park, Newcastle, has had his case referred to the Court of Appeal in London by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the independent body which investigates possible miscarriages of justice.

The appeal is being heard by Lord Justice Gage, Mr Justice Silber and Mr Justice Treacy.

The judges heard that Juror 9, who had no knowledge of Adams before the trial, got to know his family after his conviction, first through his grandmother and then his parents.

Juror 9's contacts with grandmother Joan Adams, who has since died, became fairly regular, but the relationship with the family was concerned purely with the court case - "we didn't go out drinking or anything like that".

The judges also heard evidence from two other witnesses, Jurors 11 and 12, that words were said, either during or after the trial, to the effect that "these lads are guilty".

The hearing continues.