The multi-million-pound trial of two Leeds United footballers collapsed dramatically yesterday when the judge at Hull Crown Court ruled that a newspaper article created a "substantial risk of prejudice"
Mr Justice Poole will this morning consider an application for a retrial in the case of Lee Bowyer (24) and Jonathan Woodgate (21) and his friends, Mr Neale Caveney (21) and Mr Paul Clifford (21), who denied charges of affray and grievous bodily harm with intent against an Asian student, Mr Sarfraz Najeib (20), in Leeds in January last year.
The development has also been referred to the Attorney General to consider whether the Sunday Mirror newspaper will be charged with contempt of court.
The judge was furious at the Sunday Mirror's decision to publish an interview on Sunday with the student's father, Mr Muhammad Najeib, in which he claimed the attack on his son was racially motivated.
Discharging the seven men and four women of the jury in the 10th week of the trial after the jurors admitted seeing the article, Mr Justice Poole said the trial must be abandoned because the article raised "a clear and substantial risk" of influencing their decision, particularly since race was not raised by the prosecution as a possible motive for the attack.
Mr Justice Poole told the jury: "I am concerned that for 10 weeks and many months before that all interested parties have been striving for justice for the victim, the victim's family and the defendants who have an entitlement to a fair trial. It is with deep regret I am going to discharge you at this stage of the hearing."
Leeds United Football Club declined to comment on the development, but the Najeib family said they had lodged a complaint about the newspaper's tactics with the Press Complaints Commission.
The Sunday Mirror published the interview with Mr Najeib as the jury was about to continue its deliberations for the fourth day. The publication of the interview was not sanctioned by Mr Najeib, his family claimed, and he had a written undertaking from the newspaper that the article would not be published until after the trial, the family said. The newspaper said it had begun a review of procedures before Sunday's publication.
The trial, estimated to have cost up to £8 million ended after several hours of legal argument about the article in the absence of the jury. Mr Justice Poole called back the jury and asked the jurors: "Is any of you aware of an article in yesterday's Sunday Mirror, whether by seeing it, or by discussing it with anyone else, or by any other means, containing details of an interview with Mr Muhammad Najeib?" The jury retired for 10 minutes to consider the question. When the foreman returned he confirmed that the jurors were aware of the article.
Outlining his reasons for halting the trial, the judge criticised the adoption by police of the definition of a racist incident as outlined in the MacPherson report on the investigation of the murder of Stephen Lawrence.
The report stated that a racist incident was one perceived as such by a victim or another person, but the adoption of that definition by police was "entirely subjective".
In the Najeib case, the judge said, the prosecution had found no evidence of a racist motive for the attack. "The risk of police using that definition in their investigations in the absence of evidence has the potential for causing serious mischief and ought to be reconsidered," Mr Justice Poole added.
Last week the jury found Woodgate, Caveney and Clifford, and another Leeds United footballer, Michael Duberry (25), not guilty of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Bowyer had not been charged with this offence.