A dad has been jailed after he was caught trying to tamper with the jury in a south Essex murder trial.
Phillip Moore, 70, approached a juror outside his son’s murder trial last month at Basildon Crown Court and made comments designed to interfere with their deliberations.
His son John Moore had beaten a man to death with a hammer in 2024. Moore Sr suggested to the juror that the victim might have had unusually brittle bones.
When the juror reported him, resulting in a police investigation, Moore Sr falsely accused the juror of fabricating the incident – but he later pleaded guilty to doing an act intending to pervert the course of justice.
Sentencing him on Friday (April 24), Recorder Ben Irwin said the crime could only be punished by immediate imprisonment.
“This offence is so serious that in my judgement, I would be failing in my public duty if I did not mark your offending with an immediate custodial sentence,” he said.
“I take that view because this is offending that strikes at the very heart of the criminal justice system.”
Moore Jr, formerly of Ingrave Road in Brentwood, was on trial last summer for killing a man he’d borrowed money from when he tried to recover the debt.
He attacked 63-year-old Francis (Frankie) Reilly with a hammer, causing multiple blunt force trauma injuries to his head and upper body.
When the jury was sent out to deliberate last August, Moore Sr, of Princes Road, Hampshire, encountered some of them outside the courthouse and began walking towards one, then diverted to another.
“I was watching him because I thought he was up to no good,” the juror he initially walked towards later told Essex Police.
He watched Moore Sr lean in to speak to a second juror, who immediately went inside and told court staff that the defendant’s father had told him: “He hasn’t been tested for brittle bones. Have a look at the toxicology.”
“It is clear to me that this was not, as you told a probation officer, you acting without any intention to intimidate or influence that juror. Indeed, that much is confirmed by your plea,” said Recorder Irwin.
“You did that act because you were plainly seeking to influence the juror… You were seeking to pervert the course of justice and effectively sway the jury to your way of thinking.
“It was an obviously targeted comment… In my judgement, it was a serious act of manipulation.”
Arrested by Essex Police, Moore Sr claimed all he had said to the juror was that he didn’t envy their day because the courthouse was so hot.
“Clearly, that was a lie,” said Recorder Irwin.
Asked by the juror would claim he had made comments about brittle bones and toxicology, Moore Sr replied: “Maybe he has an axe to grind. I dunno.”
“There you were, suggesting that he lied, when you knew full well that that juror had told the truth,” said Recorder Irwin.
“You had sought to interfere with proceedings and you were now calling him a liar for telling the truth.”
After the incident was reported, presiding judge Samantha Leigh determined that the jury could continue with their deliberations.
The trial resulted in a hung jury and Moore Jr later pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter, avoiding a retrial.
“Offending like this is exceptionally serious,” said Recorder Irwin. “This very clearly is a high culpability case because this was an attempt to pervert the course of justice in a murder trial.”
But, he said, the attempt “mercifully” failed to cause severe disruption to the proceedings.
“That strikes me as more like than down to your judgement,” he told Moore Sr. “This could have caused a murder trial to be derailed.”
Due to the limited harm, the sentencing guidelines’ starting point was one year.
After hearing about an array of physical and mental health problems faced by Moore Sr, he reduced it to nine months. He was then entitled to a third off for his early guilty plea.
The final sentence was one of six months’ imprisonment.
In October, Moore Jr was sentenced to six years and two months in prison.
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