Leeds footballers case prompts call for new jury rules

LONDON - The Director of Public Prosecutions has stepped into the row over the collapse of the Leeds footballers trial by saying that juries should be given greater protection from the media in high-profile cases.

As Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer, with two other men, were told they will face a retrial on 8 October, David Calvert-Smith QC said that a "cordon sanitaire" should be imposed in such cases.

Mr Calvert-Smith called for a wider use of the practice in which juries are ordered, or sequestered, to stay in hotels overnight while they deliberate on their verdicts. He said: "The curtain has got to come down during the trial because they [the jury] should only hear evidence during the trial." He explained that tighter controls were justified when there was an "extreme danger" of prejudice after the jury had retired.

Earlier, Mr Justice Poole, at Hull Crown Court, had ordered a retrial after the collapse of the high-profile £8m case over the publication of an article in the Sunday Mirror.

Mr Woodgate, 21, and Mr Bowyer, 24, are accused of attacking a student in the street. Sarfraz Najeib, 21, was allegedly kicked and beaten in an incident in Leeds city centre last year. The two footballers, and Mr Woodgate's friends Neale Caveney and Paul Clifford, both 21, deny the charges.

Nigel Sangster QC, representing Mr Clifford, said the retrial would be "vigorously opposed". He said: "A fair trial before a jury with no preconceived views in this case is impossible." A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for September.

Yesterday, the Attorney General, Lord Williams of Mostyn, said he would consider "as quickly as possible" whether to start contempt of court proceedings against the Sunday Mirror. If found guilty, the newspaper could face a heavy fine. Its editor, Colin Myler, could even be jailed.

- INDEPENDENT