Jurors ‘Googled difference between manslaughter and murder’ before convicting 18-year-old of stabbing salesman, 20, to death
- Dharamjeet Digpal, 34, ‘googled difference between murder and manslaughter’
- Richard Wellings, 42, accused of googling the term manslaughter at same time
- Duo, both of east London, were deliberating over Osman Shidane Old Bailey trial
Two jurors have appeared in court charged with googling the difference between murder and manslaughter during a trial.
Dharamjeet Digpal, 34, of Ilford, east London, and Richard Wellings, 42, of Romford, were part of the jury that convicted an 18-year-old man with the manslaughter of Osman Shidane at the Old Bailey last year.
The pair are accused of researching the trial on the internet during the trial period, which breaches the Juries Act 1974.
Westminster Magistrates Court was told Digpal googled the difference between murder and manslaughter, while Wellings searched for the term manslaughter.
Dharamjeet Digpal, 34, of Ilford, east London, (pictured left outside Westminster Magistrates court today) and Richard Wellings, 42, of Romford, (right today outside same court) were part of the jury that convicted an 18-year-old man with the manslaughter of Osman Shidane at the Old Bailey last year
Komal Varsani prosecuting said: ‘These matters relate to the defendants sitting on a trial at the Central Criminal Court which was a murder trial.
‘A member of court staff heard the defendants discussing research they had carried out in deliberation.’
A letter was sent to Judge Michael Grieve QC who referred the matter to the Attorney General.
The allegation against Digpal states that ‘being a member of a jury that tried an issue in a case before a court, namely R -v- Lewis Simpson at the Central Criminal Court, researched the case during the trial period, in that you used the internet to find out the difference between murder and manslaughter’.
Wellings’ charge alleges that in the same case he ‘researched the case during the trial period, in that you used the internet to research the word manslaughter.’
Dominic Teagle, representing Wellings said: ‘The allegation against him is he looked up the word ‘manslaughter’. He did not look into the background or anything like that.’
Victim: Osman Shidane, 20, was killed by Lewis Simpson, then 16 and now 18, in May last year
The Old Bailey trial had heard how Lewis Simpson, who can now be named after he turned 18, chased down and stabbed Somali salesman Osman Shidane, 20, to death after they argued about a drug deal on 15 May last year.
Mr Shidane, 20, was knifed three times by the teenager, who was 16 at the time of the attack and had youth anonymity during the trial, opposite an Asda in South Ruislip, west London, on 15 May last year.
One injury severed an artery eyewitness described blood spurting from the wound which was 11cm deep before he collapsed in the street.
The killer denied and was cleared of murder, but he was convicted of manslaughter and jailed for six and a half years last December.
Digpal, of Ilford, and Wellings of Romford, are charged with carrying out research during a trial under the Juries Act 1974.
They were bailed ahead of a plea and trial preparation hearing at Inner London Crown Court on 8 January.
The crime scene near the Asda in South Ruislip, west London, is pictured in the aftermath