‘Twitter threat to jury trials’

COURT-BASED tweeting is likely to increase the risk of a mistrial and misuse of the internet by jurors must stop if the jury system is to survive, England and Wales’ most senior judge has said.

Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice, warned that it was all too easy for campaigners to bombard the micro-blogging site Twitter with messages in a bid to influence the outcome of a hearing.

“We cannot stop people tweeting, but if jurors look at such material, the risks to the fairness of the trial will be very serious, and ultimately the openness of the trial process on which we all rely would be damaged,” he said.