A Muslim woman juror is facing a possible jail sentence after she was arrested in court for apparently listening to an iPod under a headscarf during a murder trial.
She is said to have used a traditional hijab headscarf to hide earphones to her MP3 player while ignoring vital evidence from a retired businessman who brutally bludgeoned his disabled wife to death.
She has been accused of contempt, an offence which can carry an unlimited fine and indefinite imprisonment.
A 13-day news blackout, imposed by the trial judge, was lifted today following the killer's conviction at London's Blackfriars Crown Court.
Now what some lawyers believe may be an unprecedented contempt case can be revealed.
It can also be revealed that before last Wednesday's dramatic developments, the woman - in her early twenties and unidentified for legal reasons - had repeatedly tried to avoid jury service.
Weeks earlier she managed to postpone her first summons. She then answered a second, only to successfully plead toothache two days later.
When the third arrived and she learnt she had been selected for a trial that could last up to five weeks, she asked to be excused so she could go job hunting.
She mentioned a nursery nursing course she was interested in but after failing to provide details, she was ordered to serve.
The juror, along with five other women and six men, then took an oath to try pensioner Alan Wicks "on the evidence" for allegedly bludgeoning his wife to death after 50 years of marriage.
Problems started the next day with the first of a number of late arrivals at court, prompting Judge Roger Chapple to repeatedly asked her to change her ways.
The woman not only continued to be late but left lawyers wondering whether she was "in a world of her own". Some of those in court became convinced she was doodling instead of reading important documentary exhibits distributed to her and fellow jurors. Neither did she bother putting them away into lever arch files provided for the purpose.
Then, on Tuesday last week, prosecutor Peter Clarke QC asked for her to be discharged.
But the judge rejected his application, pointing out the "random selection of jurors was a very important aspect of the trial process".
That meant discharges should follow only for "very, very serious ...improper behaviour" and then not until "necessity" had been demonstrated.
One day later, matters allegedly took a turn for the worse.
First, a member of the defence team thought she caught a brief glimpse of a wire under the woman's head covering.
It also emerged that on several occasions during the trial the judge believed he could hear the faintest of "tinny music" in the background - but dismissed it as his imagination.
Finally, another woman juror sent him a lunchtime note, which apparently confirmed his suspicions but left the rest of the court stunned.
She claimed her colleague had been secretly listening to her MP3 player during the defendant's evidence. After further legal submissions, the Muslim juror was called into court on her own and informed of the allegation.
The judge warned that her behaviour, if proved, would not just give "cause for concern" but would amount to "contempt of court".
"You are going to be discharged from this jury. You will play no further role." He also told her she would be arrested.
A police officer then stepped forward and escorted her from court.
Outside, she was searched and the MP3 player found and confiscated.
She was later bailed until July 23, when her case has been listed for a directions hearing before Blackfriars' senior resident judge Aidan Marron QC.
Outside court, barrister Benn Maguire, another member of the prosecution team, said: "It is unique for all those who are connected with this court to experience a situation where the juror is suspected of listening to a MP3 player under her Islamic headgear.
"Also, it is exceptional for a juror to appear entirely uninterested in the evidence.
"It is a bad alleged contempt. If contempt is upheld, I would have thought that prison would be the likely outcome," he said.
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