Facebook juror jailed for contempt

The first juror to be prosecuted for contempt of court for using the internet was jailed for eight months in Britain today.

Joanne Fraill, 40, admitted at London’s High Court using Facebook to exchange messages with Jamie Sewart, 34, a defendant already acquitted in an ongoing multimillion-pound drug trial in Manchester last year.

Fraill, from Blackley, Manchester, also admitted conducting an internet search into Sewart’s boyfriend, Gary Knox, a co-defendant, while the jury was still deliberating.

Sewart was given a two-month sentence suspended for two years after being found guilty of contempt.