Members of the jury hearing the Vicki Pryce perverting the course of justice case have hit back at suggestions that they were indecisive saying that throughout the trial, they unanimously agreed to have lunch at McDonalds.
Experienced juror Brian Green, a jobseeker from Catford, said that it wasn’t just the choice of restaurant they agreed on: “It was uncanny but we all agreed to “super-size” our meals – we definitely did want fries and fizzy, thank you very much. Though to be fair, the fact that the Justice system was paying might also have been a factor.”
Amy York, a first time juror and solo mother from Romford, said “Ok, there was some differences between us – one of the 12 actually opted to leave the gherkin and lettuce in their burgers, which we all laughed about. And we had to remind Gavin and Steve to pay attention to the task at hand, as twice they inadvertedly ordered Whoppers."
But newspaper stories saying that questions asked by the jury showed they were a bit thick were wide of the mark, said Jason Smith, an apprentice tiler from East Ham. “OK, we asked for directions but it wasn’t immediately obvious where the McDonalds was. The Judge just said ‘turn left at the Barclays and you can’t miss it’. It is all very well for an expert in the area like him to give vague directions and leave us to it, but we weren’t sure whether he meant ‘left’ or ‘sharp left’ or even ‘right’. What the Judge should have done is actually taken us by the hand and shown us exactly where the McDonalds was.”
Candie Wright, a part-time sex worker in Bethnal Green, said that the jurors took their task very seriously, and they all worked on their mental agility by attempting to solve the Happy Meal puzzles at McDonalds. “Those mazes were not as easy as they looked – especially navigating through all the special sauce I spilt on it. And the quiz was equally tricky - ‘world famous clown’ seemed obvious but when I filled in ‘David Cameron’ it didn’t quite fit.”
But Ms Wright said all that brainwork was for nothing as the Judge aborted the trial just as they were on the verge of a verdict. “We were gutted. We had pored over the evidence. Listened to the arguments from both sides. And we were just about to go with a majority verdict, 10-2, for a Big Mac over a McChicken.”
