Not Guilty, your honour.

Oh well, the British legal system strikes again. We found the guy not guilty. We were pretty sure he'd done it, but not in the way we'd been told he'd done it, so as far as we could tell we had no option but to let the guy off

Shall I start from scratch?

To set the scene..
We have defendant (called 'D' from now on) and the injured party (IP). IP claims D stole a mobile phone off him in the street, and when IP gave chase, D robbed IP at knife point.

Simple

Simple my foot.

There were holes a mile wide in the IP's story. He couldn't couldn't remember the time of year (middle, beginning or end) of the incident or the time (morning, afternoon, evening).

So - Jury thinks there's something funny with IP's story. D has an alternative story (IP sold him a duff phone, D refused to pay, IP made up story)

Again, holes in D's story; the phone's address book suggested that the phone had belonged to someone in IP's family at one point

Jury thinks he stole phone. Jury is VERY confused; neither story sounds quite right.

Jury makes up third story. "D either stole IP's phone or bought the phone off third party which turned out to be IP's phone. IP demands it back, D tells him to get stuffed etc etc."

Juries are not allowed to make up stories and convict someone on the basis of this.

Judge tells the jury that it is up to the prosecution to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that the incident stated took place. It is not the defendant's job to prove that it didn't. If there is uncertainty, then D must be declared not guilty.

Sigh.

We talked for an hour and found the guy not guilty.

So, that's how it works. A few other things I've learned

1. Trials take a long time because the jury is only allowed to reach a verdict based on the evidence that is presented to them. That evidence is what is said in court. It is NOT the statements of either the defence or the witnesses. The prosecution's and defence's job is to draw out the relevant points of evidence. So there is a lot of talking. In our case, the judge wrote down eveything that was said (so he could sum up the evidence to the jury and answer any questions from the jury as to what was said). This was done long hand. This meant that each sentence to 45 seconds.
2. Two rules for prosecution - Don't wind up the judge; Don't wind up the jury (such as by posing)
3. Take a good book; The wheels of justice wind incredibly slowly. We spent a lot of time waiting for the court to start, or waiting to see if we would be selected.

Still - it was a change and an experience.