'Unprecedented' jury misconduct forces retrial

Jurors discussed bribes and trading drugs, did not disclose links to trial parties and researched the accused online before 10 fraud convictions were struck out.

The serious jury misconduct during a six-month trial into an alleged $10 million tax fraud was revealed in full in an appeal judgement on Friday.

Construction boss George Alex and four others were found guilty in 2024 but are now set to face a retrial due to the jury irregularities.

While juror misconduct is often discovered through other jurors reporting it to the trial judge, some of the misconduct was only discovered when federal police raided the foreman's house for an unrelated investigation.

"No case like this has ever occurred before," NSW's top criminal court ruled on Friday.

"Despite the length of the trial, the findings of the Sheriff's report and the trial judge's careful directions, we have concluded that a miscarriage of justice occurred and that a new trial must be ordered.

"In reaching this conclusion we emphasise ... that no criticism whatever is intended of the trial judge."

The court found the jury foreman conducted numerous illegal internet searches on the accused men and shared information with fellow jurors for months.

That included highly prejudicial material in media articles about the men.

"A juror appraised of this information would very likely be more inclined to find the crown case established beyond reasonable doubt," the court said.

The foreman had also been seen drinking after court with other jurors.

He went on to make a slew of accusations about fellow jurors, including that up to six of them were approached and pressured by someone to return not guilty verdicts.

Two other jurors said an approach to obtain a favourable verdict had been discussed by the jury but that it was a "joke".

The Crown accepted on appeal there was no evidence to support anyone having been offered a bribe - however the allegations triggered an investigation in which the Sheriff questioned jurors as suspects in a criminal investigation.