A Preston Crown Court juror has been jailed for 56 days after going on holiday during the trial she was sitting on, the Lancashire Evening Post reported today.

Janet Chapman, 52, rang court officials to say she had back pain and could not attend for two weeks.

But the phone call was a "misleading and deliberate deception" as she made it while in Malta with her partner, the newspaper said.

The deputy care home manageress had listened to three weeks of evidence in a robbery trial at Preston Crown Court but failed to appear at the start of the final week of the scheduled four-week hearing.

She said she was unfit to attend and then on the following day on March 20 she left a telephone message with the jury bailiff which said: "Hello, this is Janet Chapman. I won't be attending court for a period of up to two weeks.

"I have got to return to the doctors next Tuesday. I have got sciatica. Thank you. Bye."

It emerged she had flown out with her partner, Raymond Pritchard, from Liverpool John Lennon Airport earlier that day for a week's holiday.

Trial judge Stewart Baker had, as normal procedure, asked all potential members of the jury before the case started whether there was any reason why they could not serve the set period of time and the defendant indicated there was none.

On Thursday, in explaining her absence from the proceedings, Mr Pritchard told Preston Crown Court it was a surprise birthday present for Chapman.

Chapman said she thought that obtaining a seven-day sick note for sciatica meant she would automatically not have to attend the trial.

Finding her guilty of contempt of court, Recorder of Preston Judge Anthony Russell QC told her: "I am driven to the conclusion that you pretended to your doctor that you had a back problem in order that you could take a holiday in Malta."

The trial was delayed for two days while inquiries were made with "genuine concern at first for your welfare", said the judge. It resulted in "significant wasted costs, personal loss to several people and considerable inconvenience".

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