Rochdale grooming trial: BNP leader’s tweet threatened collapse of trial

A TWEET from British National Party leader Nick Griffin almost caused the trial to collapse when it led to allegations of the jury having a “far-right bias”.

Last Thursday, two and a half days after the jury retired to consider its verdicts, Mr Griffin posted on his account: “News flash. Seven of the Muslim paedophile rapists found guilty in Liverpool.”

He later backtracked on Twitter when he was told that the jury had not yet officially returned any verdicts.

But the tweet led to eight defence counsel calling on Judge Gerald Clifton to discharge the jury before it delivered verdicts, after investigations revealed Griffin’s comment to be a “100 per cent accurate” reflection of its deliberations.

The defence counsel who supported the discharge of the jury said there must have been “two-way communication” between someone in the jury room and a far-right organisation.

But inquiries carried out by the police and the Crown Prosecution Service showed the message was published at a time when the jury was in its special room, where all electronic equipment is banned.