Juror who tried to fix trial gets four years

A juror who plotted with his mother to fix a boxing promoter’s trial for drug dealing has been jailed for four years.

Damien Drackley, 37, sulked when he was not chosen as foreman and then told other jurors: ‘He’s not guilty, nothing is ever going to change my mind’ before they even discussed the evidence.

He then pulled his hood over his head in a huff and said: ‘I’m not going to participate anymore.’

Drackley was promised £5,000 to get Les Allen, 66, cleared of supplying £150,000 worth of cocaine and cannabis and possession of a CS gas spray cannister at Warwick Crown Court in 2018.

Defence witness Laurence Hayden – also known as Delboy – was arrested for giving false evidence at the trial after he was spotted winking at Drackley.

When the nobbling came to light Judge Andrew Lockhart discharged the jury on the second day of deliberations and found Allen guilty of the charges himself, jailing him for 13 years.

Drackley admitted disclosing jury deliberations by telling his mother Lorraine Frisby, 55, about the trial, but denied conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

He told the court he couldn’t keep secrets from his ‘bossy’ mother and she would have got it out of him ‘one way or another’.

Drackley also claimed he was trying to impress his girlfriend when he boasted about the trial but he was convicted of conspiracy along with Allen, Hayden, 53, and 57-year-old Mark Walker.

Frisby earlier admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Frisby was jailed for two years and three months for her involvement.

Allen refused to leave HMP Oakwood where he is serving his 13 year sentence and was ordered to serve five years consecutively.

Hayden, who fled to Spain last summer was arrested and has been detained in a prison there, his sentencing will be dealt with at a later date.

Walker given a 12 month sentence.

Mr Justice Cavanagh said: ‘This was a complex, carefully planned, and very cynical conspiracy. Each of the two strands of the conspiracy struck at the very heart of the criminal justice process.

‘Each participant knowingly and willingly took part in a serious and determined attempt to pervert the course of justice.

‘There must be a deterrent element for offending such as this, which strikes at the heart of the system of justice.’

Addressing Drackley,Justice Cavanagh said: ‘You were the central player in this strand. You bear a particularly grave responsibility because you acted consistently and flagrantly in breach of your jury oath.

‘Your mother undoubtedly encouraged you in your misconduct and, without her connections and involvement, it would probably have never occurred to you to contact Leslie Allen.’

But the judge added: ‘You were old enough to stand up to your mother and take responsibility for your own actions.’

Another juror, 40-year-old Daniel Porter, was also charged with the offence for lying as a witness but has since died.

Prosecutor Tony Badenoch earlier told the court Allen ‘was and is a major drugs wholesaler and he had both the money and the motive to seek to evade justice.

‘He was, in fact, guilty of the offences to which he was charged and had every reason to seek to pervert the course of justice in his own trial.

‘He sought to bring about a different outcome in his own trial – not guilty verdicts and the opportunity to avoid that lengthy prison sentence.

‘He did so by promising financial incentives to a juror. Damien Drackley was promised a financial incentive.

‘Leslie Allen also recruited others to lie on oath in his case, Laurence Hayden and Daniel Porter. They turned up to the trial to give false evidence.

‘Daniel Porter claimed the drugs in question were in fact his, and not Leslie Allen’s. That was something that was dismissed.

‘Laurence Hayden came to the witness box and when he came to give his evidence in the trial winked at the jury, at Damien Drackley.

‘Allen used intermediaries to seek to maintain his cover. Mark Walker was involved in the background in passing messages, information and the like, as was the mother of the first defendant in this case, Lorraine Frisby.’

When the jury at the Warwick trial retired to consider its verdict, Drackley shouted ‘not guilty, not guilty’ and was ‘abrupt and disruptive.’

‘He was quite vocal and didn’t believe a word of the prosecution which made other jurors question the case,’ Mr Badenoch said.

Drackley claimed in the jury room that he had knowledge of a pub and gym in Coventry which were relevant to the trial.

This knowledge would have prohibited him from serving on the jury had he revealed it when he should.

Drackley was discharged as a juror on 20 November 2018 and told he must not discuss the case with anyone.

His phone had not been turned off during deliberations as ordered and was seized.

Another juror had told the judge he suspected Drackley had been illegally recording their deliberations.

Mr Badenoch said: ‘Overnight, the phone was interrogated to ascertain whether the juror’s hunch of his recording deliberations was right.

‘In fact, it wasn’t, Damien Drackley hadn’t been recording deliberations as suspected.

‘But he did have installed on his phone an App which recorded all his conversations, including those with his girlfriend and his mother – Lorraine Frisby.

Mr Badenoch continued: ’Those recordings revealed that he had been discussing the case with both of them, again in contravention of Judge Lockhart’s directions, and that his mother had been in contact with the very man that he was supposed to be trying – Leslie Allen.’

Frisby was heard passing on messages from Allen to her son and discussing how to influence other jurors to find Allen not guilty.

Hayden and Walker acted as conduits between Allen and Frisby.

Drackley was heard telling his girlfriend Tammy Davenport: ‘Me and my mum know people that know the geezer that is on trial, there’s two of them that I know that are going to try and go guilty but I’m gonna try and sway em, get the others to say the same as me.’

Frisby was heard saying: ‘I just had Mr Allen on the phone… said he would sort you out… gonna get a lot more than membership of my gym. Mr Allen said it makes him feel a bit better to know he’s got a face on the jury.’

Mr Badenoch added: ‘Essentially, there was a running commentary and dialogue between a compromised juror and the defendant. The dialogue extended to promises of financial benefit.

‘It was in short, a fix.’

One of the other jurors, Dominyk Maggs, told the court as Hayden came to the witness box to give evidence he nodded at Drackley.

Mr Maggs said: ‘As he came into the box he looked directly at juror number one [Drackley], made direct eye contact with him and nodded very visibly.

‘He wasn’t scanning the jury, he was looking directly at juror number one.

‘I thought it was very odd, I appreciate coming into court is not an everyday occurrence for a significant number of people and it would be daunting to come in and give evidence, but it seemed very odd.

‘When we left court, the door of the courtroom hadn’t even shut, and juror one said “did you see that guy nod at me” and myself and another juror said “yes we did, it was very visible nod.’

He said when they came to select a foreperson Drackley put himself forward.

‘We asked does anyone want the role and juror number one said he quite fancied that role for himself. Another juror said they wouldn’t mind doing it as well.

‘We voted. Juror one initially got no votes and then he said “oh great, nobody likes me then, thanks.”

Then one of the other jurors raised their hand and voted for him. The other juror was voted in by the rest of us.’

‘He seemed quite upset, it was almost stroppy and childlike.’

The jury then went round the table and said if they initially thought Allen was guilty or not guilty on each charge.

‘Juror number one said “definitely not guilty”. He said it was all made up, it was a complete load of rubbish, none of what the prosecution said made any sense, none of the facts made sense, none of it followed anything so he was not guilty across the board.

‘He said he had knowledge of these things and what was being presented was not factually correct.

‘He was always quite aggressive and always wanted to get his point of view across and would also get frustrated very easily when anyone would not agree or question any point he had made.

‘He didn’t want people to have their point of view, he got quite loud with a raised voice.

‘The next day when we returned we went around the table again to see if anyone had had a change of heart.

‘Juror number one still had his coat on, and he said “he’s not guilty, you’re not going to change my mind, nothing is ever going to change my mind, this is pointless, I don’t know why we’re sat here.’

‘He then pulled his hood over his head and said he wasn’t going to participate anymore.

‘We were all quite shocked as there were meant to be 12 people to discuss the evidence.’

Stephen Bailey, defending Drackley said: ‘He is heavily influenced by others especially his mother who he had an intense relationship with.

He could and should have said no to discussing matters from day one.’

David Wood for Frisby said: ‘This offence committed by a woman of 56 with no previous conviction is genuinely out of character.

‘It is a mistake she will regret forever and for which she is profoundly sorry.

‘She lives with her husband and he is in very poor health, he has an amputated leg with diabetes and she is his primary caregiver.

‘She owns her home, she is responsible for the mortgage, there is a very good prospect that if she is sent prison today she will lose that property.

‘The consequences of this conviction are going to be profound.’

Allen, of HMP Oakwood, Drackley, of Diamond Walk, Nuneaton, Hayden, of St Nicholas Street, Coventry and Walker, of Minton Road, Coventry, denied but were convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Frisby, of West Boulevard, Birmingham, admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of ju