Three men ‘wrongly’ acquitted by jury lose High Court challenge to prison detention

Three men have lost a High Court challenge over their continued detention in prison after an “error” by a jury foreman accidentally cleared them of murdering a man.

In January, brothers Paul and Matthew Yusuff and their friend Moussa Traore were initially unanimously acquitted by a jury of In relation to the stabbing death of 32-year-old Adrian Keise outside London’s Waterloo station.

Within minutes of delivering the not guilty verdict, the Old Bailey jury reconvened after the judge received a note stating that the jurors did not all agree with their decision.

When Judge Charles Gratwick asked the jury foreman if she had made an error in stating the jury’s unanimous verdict, she responded: “Yes.”

Jurors were sent to reconsider and although they later found Paul Yusef not guilty of possession of a blade or knife point, they were unable to reach a verdict on the other charges and was again discharged.

The three men deny all charges against them and are seeking to challenge their continued detention at HMP Belmarsh pending a retrial planned for December, arguing that the first not guilty verdict was “valid” and should not have been Rehearing”.

In a 20-page written ruling on Wednesday, three judges dismissed their case, concluding that the jury foreman suffered “some form of stage fright” in the “stressful environment” of court proceedings. .

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Dame Victoria Sharp, who heard the challenge with Justices Holgate and Hilliard, said it was “lawful to continue to detain these men pending their retrial”.

The judge said that shortly before delivering the verdict, the jury issued a note “indicating that they were not unanimous”.

“In this case, it is clear from what happened that the female worker made an error when she said the jury had reached a unanimous verdict.”

Paul Youssef, 21, and Matthew Youssef, 23, face murder charges and, along with Traore, 24, manslaughter.

Lawyers for the trio had previously argued that their continued detention was “unlawful” because the proceedings were rendered “ineffective” after the jury was dismissed following the initial verdict.