Ever since I got the summons for jury duty I paid extra attention the the local news bulletins at 6:30 every evening.
Pretty soon I realised the case involved the murder of an innocent guy trying to break up a fight outside a nightclub in the town of Bodmin (about 40 miles away).
Every night there were more details revealed as the case dragged on in the court and it really was pretty serious with the knifeman and two females being charged with murder/assisting an offender.
After hearing all the evidence it became pretty clear all three were guilty and sure enough the jury found them so.
Well it all came to a head the other day when all 3 re-appeared at court for sentencing. The main culprit got the usual sentence for murder which is life imprisonment, and in his case the minimum he will serve afore applying for parole was given as 28 years which means he will be around 53 afore he can be considered for release.
Jake Hill, 25, has been jailed for a minimum of 28 years for the murder of Michael Riddiough-Allen.
www.bbc.co.uk
My summons letter stated the case would last about 10 days but it was more like 30 days! Do I regret not taking part? In a way yes but I just knew it would be impractical for me to do so.
Jay.