A member of the jury on a High Court trial was blasted by a judge for not paying attention to evidence as he sat in the comfort of a cinema seat.
Jurors have been sitting socially distant at an Odeon featuring “premium comfort” seating at Fort Kinnaird, near Edinburgh, while hearings are broadcast on the big screen.
But it became too comfortable for one man, who Lord Uist publicly pointed out was “stretching back and yawning” while evidence was being led.
He told him: “It looks as though you might be falling asleep. I have to make sure all the jurors are paying attention.”
The judge was presiding over a rape trial at the High Court in Livingston while the jury sat 25 miles away.
Lord Uist also chided another juror for once delaying the start of proceedings by 17 minutes because his bus was running late.
Another juror incurred his wrath by leaving the cinema building at lunchtime – in breach of a strict rule that jurors must stay together while the court is in session.
The Scottish Government gave £5.5million for the courts service to set up as many as 16 complexes in the east and west of Scotland to tackle the backlog of trials caused by the corona shutdown.
The Odeon at Ford Kinnaird hosted the first remote jury on September 28.
