1 Thursday, 27th September 2007
2 (11.05 am)
3 Jury selection
4 LORD JUSTICE SCOTT BAKER: Good morning everybody.
5 Mr Burnett, a jury panel has been summoned from
6 which a jury of 11 will ultimately be selected.
7 The potential jurors were summoned to Westminster
8 Coroner's Court where I am Assistant Deputy Coroner for
9 the purposes of these inquests. They were brought by
10 coach from Horseferry Road to this building where
11 the inquests are going to be heard.
12 What I propose to do now is to bring the jury panel
13 in in two groups, give a short explanation to them, why
14 they have been brought here in this way and what is
15 expected of them, and then give them a questionnaire to
16 take away and complete, the purpose of which is to
17 ascertain those who, for one reason or another, should
18 be excused jury service on this occasion.
19 I shall then divide the completed questionnaires
20 into three groups: those who should be excused, those
21 about whom I need further information and those who
22 should remain on the panel for possible selection.
23 As to those from whom I need further information,
24 before deciding into which of the other categories they
25 should be placed, I shall either obtain this through
1
1 the Coroner's officers who have been dealing with jury
2 summoning, or myself, in this court.
3 I do not see any problem with those whom I excuse.
4 If there are those who raise reasons for being excused
5 that I am not inclined to accept, I shall mention this
6 in court to the interested persons, before making
7 a final decision.
8 Depending on the number remaining on the panel for
9 service at the end of the exercise, I shall require all,
10 or some of them, to return on Tuesday morning. If
11 I decide the number is sufficiently large to discharge
12 some of them today, it will be done by ballot.
13 The reason that more than 11 will be required to
14 return on Tuesday is so that they may have an
15 opportunity between now and then to reflect on any
16 reason they may have overlooked that would make it
17 inappropriate or unduly burdensome for them or their
18 families for them to serve.
19 The selection of the 11 on Tuesday will be by
20 ballot. I shall sit at 9.30 am on Tuesday, for the jury
21 to be sworn and the remaining members of the panel to be
22 discharged.
23 When the jury has been sworn on Tuesday, I shall
24 adjourn until not before 11 am for the jury to be
25 familiarised with the administrative arrangements,
2
1 including transport et cetera, and the hearing will then
2 begin.
3 As it will take some time for the questionnaires to
4 be completed and considered, I shall not sit again,
5 after I rise this morning, until half past two. I hope
6 to be able to sit fairly soon after half past two to
7 complete the situation.
8 I hope it is helpful to everybody to know these
9 arrangements in advance and if there are any
10 observations about them, now is the time to make them.
11 MR BURNETT: Thank you sir.
12 LORD JUSTICE SCOTT BAKER: Are there any observations?
13 MR MANSFIELD: No thank you.
14 MR LAWSON: No thank you.
15 LORD JUSTICE SCOTT BAKER: Very well, we will bring up
16 the first batch.
17 I will rise for a few moments while they are brought
18 up here.
19 (11.08 am)
20 (A short break)
21 (11.16 am)
22 (In the presence of the potential jurors)
23 LORD JUSTICE SCOTT BAKER: Ladies and gentlemen, you have
24 been summoned for jury service, not for any ordinary
25 case but to serve on a jury on the inquests into
3
1 the deaths of Diana Princess of Wales and Dodi Al Fayed.
2 It will probably have come as a shock to you and you
3 will be wondering why you have not been given any
4 advance notice.
5 Let me explain. The deaths of these two people have
6 created worldwide interest on an unprecedented scale.
7 Millions of words have been spoken and written. There
8 are numerous books, television programmes, and articles
9 that have been published; some by those who are closely
10 involved in surrounding events and some not. Many have
11 argued a particular point of view or have been written
12 from a particular perspective.
13 Every jury in every case is told in the strongest
14 terms that it must decide the case that it is trying
15 strictly on the evidence it hears in court and not on
16 anything its members see on television, read in
17 the newspapers or learn about anywhere else. There is
18 a good reason for this.
19 Evidence given in court is not only given on oath or
20 affirmed with a promise as to its truthfulness, it can
21 also be tested in cross-examination. Also, evidence
22 given in court has to be relevant to the issues under
23 consideration and not just a comment or opinion. It is
24 very important that you, as potential jurors, should not
25 go away and start looking things up on the internet or
4
1 elsewhere, or reading books, or looking at television
2 programmes or videos that refer to the events that you
3 may be considering.
4 If you had known in advance that you were on the
5 jury panel for these inquests, there would have been
6 a great temptation to go away and look these things up
7 or think it might be helpful to get up to speed by
8 saying to yourselves, oh, did not so and so write a book
9 about this, or something of the kind and then go and
10 look for it.
11 Media and public interest has been intense and
12 continues to be so, both in this country and abroad. It
13 is also very important that you, as a juror or potential
14 juror, do not talk to anyone about the case, whether you
15 are approached by a stranger and asked about it, or even
16 to your family and friends.
17 Jurors take an oath or affirmation to inquire
18 diligently into the death according to the evidence,
19 which means that you have to put out of your minds
20 anything that you have heard out of court. It will not
21 be easy to do that in this particular case, but you will
22 have to. And I did not want you to do anything after
23 receiving the summons and before coming to court today
24 that might have disqualified you from being able to sit
25 on the jury.
5
1 Jury service is one of the most important public
2 duties that a citizen can be asked to undertake and
3 it is important that anyone called upon to serve on
4 a jury should serve on it, unless there is a very good
5 reason for not doing so.
6 These inquests are likely to take some time. They
7 are not going to start today and no jury is going to be
8 sworn in today. What is going to happen is that I am
9 going to narrow down your number by excusing all those
10 of you who, for one reason or another, should not sit on
11 the jury. Broadly, there are two aspects to this.
12 Either a connection with the case or a witness that
13 would make it arguably inappropriate that you should
14 sit, for example employment by the Royal Family; or that
15 there is some pressing personal reason such as ongoing
16 medical treatment or a pre-booked holiday.
17 You will shortly be provided with a long list of the
18 names of people who may be witnesses, or who are somehow
19 involved in the matters under consideration in these
20 inquests. Also, each of you will be given
21 a questionnaire and asked to answer a number of
22 questions. You will have an hour or so to complete it
23 and can do so at your leisure over a cup of coffee. It
24 goes without saying that the answers must be true and
25 a possible reason for not serving on the jury might have
6
1 to be checked.
2 The questionnaires will then be returned to me and
3 I will divide them into three groups: those for whom
4 there is no problem, those who are to be excused service
5 and those whom I may wish to ask further questions
6 before making a decision.
7 At the end of the exercise, there will be a pool of
8 you who I shall ask to return on Tuesday and from whom
9 a jury of 11 will be sworn. The purpose of this delay
10 is to give you a few days to make the necessary
11 arrangements and to bring to my attention on Tuesday
12 anything you may have overlooked or anything that would
13 make it unduly burdensome on you or your family for you
14 to serve on the jury. I will then review your position
15 on Tuesday.
16 The inquests are expected to last up to six months.
17 There will be a break for Christmas. We shall not sit
18 after Thursday 20th December until Monday 7th January.
19 If we are still going at Easter, which is quite early
20 next year, there will be a break over the Easter
21 holiday.
22 On Monday week, the jury will go to Paris to view
23 the scene. You will go by charter flight, stay
24 overnight on the Monday night in prearranged
25 accommodation and return on Tuesday afternoon. You will
7
1 of course need the relevant travel documents,
2 the questionnaire covers this, and it is likely to be an
3 early start that day.
4 Over the first few weeks of the hearing we shall be
5 receiving a lot of evidence by videolink from Paris.
6 France is one hour ahead of the United Kingdom, so we
7 shall start at 9.30 am. You will be picked up from home
8 and returned there after court. As we start early, so
9 we shall finish early, around 4 pm, although we might go
10 on a little if we need to complete a witness's evidence.
11 When we are hearing evidence live in this court,
12 ie as opposed to evidence by videolink from France, we
13 are likely to start and end the day a little later.
14 You will not be required on Fridays, at any rate to
15 start with, although we may have to consider sitting
16 with you on Fridays if we fall behind. This has two
17 advantages: first, it should enable you to arrange
18 things like medical appointments on Fridays so that
19 we can avoid disrupting the rest of the hearing, and
20 second, it enables us to deal with any legal issues that
21 do not concern you so far as possible on a Friday and
22 also to prepare arrangements for the evidence for
23 the following week.
24 If you are asked to return on Tuesday, please be
25 careful not to talk to anyone about the case. And do
8
1 not read anything about it or look up anything to do
2 with it on your computers or elsewhere. If there are
3 any articles in the newspapers, do not read them and if
4 there are any television programmes about the death of
5 Diana or any news items about these inquests, you should
6 not look at them.
7 I am very anxious that you should not be harassed or
8 hassled in any way during the inquests. That is why
9 arrangements have been made to collect you from home and
10 return you there. If you are in any way hassled or
11 harassed, you should immediately tell one of my officers
12 who will take the appropriate steps and report it
13 immediately to me.
14 Serving on a jury for this length of time causes
15 difficulty and inconvenience for everyone. So those
16 factors cannot amount to a reason not to serve.
17 Similarly, service on a jury for the length of time
18 these inquests will take will undoubtedly cause
19 difficulty for anyone who employs a potential juror, but
20 again, your employers are obliged by law to allow
21 individuals to serve.
22 Well, ladies and gentlemen, with that introduction,
23 I think you will now be provided with the questionnaires
24 and the list to which I have referred, and you can go
25 away to the retiring room and at your leisure complete
9
1 the questionnaire. Thank you very much.
2 (11.28 am)
3 (The potential jurors withdrew)
4 (A short break)
5 (11.30 am)
6 (In the presence of further potential jurors)
7 LORD JUSTICE SCOTT BAKER: Good morning ladies and
8 gentlemen. You have been summoned for jury service, not
9 for any ordinary case but to serve on a jury on the
10 inquests into the deaths of Diana Princess of Wales and
11 Dodi Al Fayed. It will probably have come as a shock to
12 you and you will be wondering why you have not been
13 given any advance notice. Let me explain.
14 The deaths of these two people have created
15 worldwide interest on an unprecedented scale. Millions
16 of words have been spoken and written. There are
17 numerous books, television programmes and articles that
18 have been published; some by those who are closely
19 involved in surrounding events, and some not. Many have
20 argued a particular point of view or have written from
21 a particular perspective.
22 Every jury in every case is told in the strongest
23 terms that it must decide the case that it is trying on
24 the evidence it hears in court and not on anything its
25 members see on television, read in the newspapers or
10
1 learn about anywhere else. There is a good reason for
2 this.
3 Evidence given in court is not only given on oath or
4 affirmed with a promise as to its truthfulness, it can
5 also be tested in cross-examination. Also, evidence
6 given in court has to be relevant to the issues under
7 consideration, and not just a comment or opinion. It is
8 very important that you, as potential jurors, should not
9 go away and start looking things up on the internet or
10 elsewhere or reading books or looking at television
11 programmes or videos that refer to the events that you
12 may be considering.
13 If you had known in advance that you were going to
14 be on the jury panel for these inquests, there would
15 have been a great temptation to go away and look these
16 things up or think it might be helpful to get up to
17 speed, saying to yourselves, oh, didn't so and so write
18 a book about this, or something of the kind and then go
19 and look for it.
20 Media and public interest has been intense and
21 continues to be so, both in this country and abroad.
22 It is also very important that you, as a juror or
23 a potential juror, do not talk to anyone about the case,
24 whether you are approached by a stranger and asked about
25 it, or even to your family and friends.
11
1 Jurors take an oath or affirmation to inquire
2 diligently into the deaths according to the evidence,
3 which means you have to put out of your minds anything
4 you have heard out of court. It will not be easy to do
5 that in this particular case, but you will have to. And
6 I did not want you to do anything after receiving
7 the summons and before coming to court today that might
8 have disqualified you from being able to sit on the
9 jury.
10 Jury service is one of the most important public
11 duties that a citizen can be asked to undertake and it
12 is important that anyone called upon to serve on a jury
13 should serve on it unless there is a very good reason
14 for not doing so. These inquests are likely to take
15 some time. They are not going to start today and no
16 jury is going to be sworn in today. What is going to
17 happen is that I am going to narrow down your number by
18 excusing all those of you who for one reason or another
19 should not sit on the jury.
20 Broadly, there are two aspects to this: either
21 connection with the case or a witness which would make
22 it arguably inappropriate that you should sit, for
23 example employment by the Royal Family, or that there is
24 some pressing personal reason, such as ongoing medical
25 treatment or a pre-booked holiday.
12
1 You will shortly be provided with a long list of the
2 names of people who may be witnesses, or who are somehow
3 involved in the matters under consideration in these
4 inquests. Also, each of you will be given
5 a questionnaire and asked to answer a number of
6 questions. You will have an hour or so to complete it
7 and can do so at your leisure over a cup of coffee. It
8 goes without saying that the answers must be true, and
9 a possible reason for not serving on the jury might have
10 to be checked.
11 The questionnaires will then be returned to me and
12 I will divide them into three groups: those for whom
13 there is no problem, those who are to be excused service
14 and those whom I may wish to ask further questions
15 before making a decision.
16 At the end of the exercise, there will be a pool of
17 you who I shall ask to return on Tuesday and from whom
18 a jury of 11 will be sworn. The purpose of this delay
19 is to give you a few days to make the necessary
20 arrangements and to bring to my attention on Tuesday
21 anything you may have overlooked or anything that would
22 make it unduly burdensome on you or your family for you
23 to serve on the jury. I will then review your position
24 on Tuesday.
25 The inquests are expected to take up to six months.
13
1 There will be a break for Christmas. We shall not sit
2 after Thursday 20th December 2007 until Monday 7th
3 January 2008. If we are still going at Easter, which is
4 quite early next year, there will be a break over
5 the Easter holiday.
6 On Monday week, the jury will go to Paris to view
7 the scene. You will go by charter flight, stay
8 overnight on the Monday night in prearranged
9 accommodation and return on Tuesday afternoon. You will
10 of course need the relevant travel documents.
11 The questionnaire covers this. It is likely to be an
12 early start that day.
13 Over the first few weeks of the hearing, we shall be
14 receiving a lot of evidence by videolink from Paris.
15 France is one hour ahead of the United Kingdom so we
16 shall start at 9.30 am. You will be picked up from home
17 and returned there after court. As we start early, so
18 we shall finish early, around 4 pm, although we might go
19 on a little if we need to complete a witness's evidence.
20 When we are hearing evidence live in this court,
21 ie as opposed to evidence via videolink from France, we
22 are likely to start and end the day a little later.
23 You will not be required on Fridays, at any rate to
24 start with, although we may have to consider sitting
25 with you on a Friday if we fall behind. This has two
14
1 advantages: first, it should enable you to arrange
2 things like medical appointments on Fridays so that
3 we can avoid disrupting the rest of the hearing; second,
4 it enables us to deal with any legal issues that do not
5 concern you so far as possible on a Friday and also to
6 prepare arrangements for the evidence for the following
7 week.
8 If you are asked to return on Tuesday, please be
9 careful not to talk to anyone about the case and do not
10 read anything about it or look up anything to do with it
11 on your computers or elsewhere. If there are any
12 articles in the newspapers, do not read them and if
13 there are any television programmes about the death of
14 Diana or any news items about these inquests, you should
15 not look at them.
16 I am very anxious that you should not be harassed or
17 hassled in any way during the inquests. That is why
18 arrangements have been made to collect you from home and
19 return you there. If you are in any way hassled or
20 harassed, you should immediately tell one of my
21 officers, who will take the appropriate steps and report
22 it immediately to me.
23 Serving on a jury for this length of time causes
24 difficulty and inconvenience for everyone, so those
25 factors cannot amount to a reason not to serve.
15
1 Similarly, service on a jury for the length of time
2 these inquests will take will undoubtedly cause
3 difficulty for anyone who employs a potential juror, but
4 again, employers are obliged by law to allow individuals
5 to serve.
6 Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that assists in putting
7 you somewhat in the picture. You will now be given
8 copies of the questionnaire and the list to which I have
9 referred, and you can go away please and fill them in in
10 the jury retiring room. Thank you.
11 I shall not sit again before half past two, but
12 I hope to be able to sit again then.
13 (The further potential jurors withdrew)
14 (11.42 am)
15 (The short adjournment)
16 (2.30 pm)
17 LORD JUSTICE SCOTT BAKER: Mr Burnett, having taken a fairly
18 liberal view about those who should be excused, either
19 because of a link with somebody connected with the case
20 or for personal reasons, we are left with 25 potential
21 jurors, all of whom I propose to ask to return on
22 Tuesday next, when the final jury selection can be made,
23 after excusing anyone who, having reconsidered
24 the position over the weekend, finds that there is
25 a problem with travel documents or their arrangements,
16
1 or whatever.
2 I hope that meets with the agreement of everybody,
3 or at least not with the disagreement of anybody.
4 MR BURNETT: I am sure that is so sir.
5 MR MANSFIELD: Yes.
6 LORD JUSTICE SCOTT BAKER: I will have the panel in then, to
7 tell them where we are.
8 (In the presence of the jury panel)
9 LORD JUSTICE SCOTT BAKER: Members of the jury panel who
10 remain, I am going to ask all 25 of you to return on
11 Tuesday morning, when the final selection will be made.
12 That gives all of you an opportunity over the next few
13 days to consider whether there is anything that you
14 should have drawn to my attention that you did not, or
15 anything else that supervened, or any problems with
16 travel documents.
17 I appreciate that in the end, only 11 of 25 of you
18 are going to be asked to serve on the jury. And those
19 who are not asked may either be very relieved or
20 disappointed. I am sorry about that, but the position
21 is that it is being done this way in order to give us
22 the maximum possible chance of starting on Tuesday, and
23 continuing throughout the inquests with a jury that is
24 able to sit for the period anticipated.
25 I am very grateful to you for coming today and for
17
1 coming back again on Tuesday, and please bear in mind
2 the things that I have already said to you earlier this
3 morning. And see you all on Tuesday.
4 (2.32 pm)
5 (The hearing was adjourned until Tuesday, 2nd October 2007
6 at 9.30 am)
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