A man has been sentenced to 13 years behind bars after making it a little too obvious he bribed some members of the jury at his trial to let him off easy. And the people who helped them have also been sentenced.
BBC reports Leslie Allen, 66, managed to get some witnesses and jury members on his side when he was being tried for dealing cocaine. The judge convicted Allen, who is described as a “major drugs wholesaler,” without a jury after learning a witnesses had visibly nodded and winked at a tampered jury member.
Turns out jury member Damien Drackley was offered roughly $6,000 to convince other members of the jury that Allen wasn’t guilty. He also spoke with his mother, Lorraine Frisby, about the deal. Frisby was relaying messages from Allen and said Allen was feeling good “to know he’s got a face on the jury.”
Frisby, as it turns out, was being contacted by Allen’s middleman, Mark Walker. In addition to these three, witness Laurence Hayden — who went by the street name Del Boy — was in on the plot, and was caught winking and nodding at Drackley during the trial.
Drackley’s phone was later seized, and authorities found all the messages between him and his mom. It all unraveled from there.
They all were found guilty of perverting the course of justice and are awaiting sentencing — except for Hayden, who fled to Spain when things went south.