Four convicted for offences relating to the tampering of a jury

FOUR people were convicted of offenses related to jury tampering in 2018, including three people from Coventry.

On November 13, 2018, Leslie Allen was on trial at Warwick Crown Court for drug offenses in the West Midlands.

Throughout the trial, evidence emerged Damien Drackley, 37, from Nuneaton and a juror, had discussed the case with his mother, 55-year-old Lorraine Frisby, who had ties to people who knew Allen.

Two of those connections, Mark Walker and Laurence Hayden of Coventry, were found to have passed details discussed by the jury to Allen through information Frisby had provided them.

On 20 November 2018, Warwickshire Police seized and examined Drackley’s phone after suspicions were raised in the courtroom.

The phone had several footage of Drackley and his mother discussing the case, along with ways they could encourage the jury to find Allen not guilty so they could “profit” from his acquittal.

The jury was dismissed and Allen was sentenced to 13 years in prison after being found guilty by the judge of his drug offenses.

An investigation then began and Drackley and Frisby were arrested.

Evidence revealed that Frisby had spoken to Walker, who then spoke to Hayden and from there back to Allen.

Hayden and Walker were arrested on March 21, 2019.

At London’s Central Criminal Court, Walker, Allen and Hayden were found guilty of conspiracy to distort public justice.

Drackley was also convicted of this offense and served on a jury involved in prohibited conduct that intentionally disclosed a jury’s deliberations.

Frisby of West Boulevard in Birmingham was also charged and had already pleaded guilty to conspiring to pervert the course of public justice and soliciting disclosure of jury deliberations.

Warwickshire Police Chief Investigator Det Insp. Collette O’Keefe said: “This was a concerted effort by the individuals involved to take advantage of the justice system to enable Leslie Allen to escape a long prison sentence.

“The actions of juror number one – Damian Drackley – were aimed at undermining his public duty for his own financial gain.

“Luckily the plan failed and Allen was convicted. Cases of this nature are extremely rare but required careful police investigation to identify the parties involved.

“I want to acknowledge the hard work of the police team and the support of the Warwick jury and court staff who helped bring this case to justice.

“We applaud the attention of this jury leading to today’s verdicts and the delivery of justice.”

The sentencing will take place on January 27, 2023.