The Jury: Murder Trial started last night on Channel 4 (February 26), with some pretty shocking views from members of the two juries being shown in the first episode.
The show follows the real-life case of a man who killed his wife by hitting her over the head three times with a hammer. He admits he killed her but denies murder. The series re-tells the case using actors and testimony from the real-life court case. Names and locations have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.
Two juries – hidden from each other – are sitting in on the case on the Channel 4 show in an experiment to see if they both come to the same conclusion. But the conclusion from viewers is that some of the men on the juries have some pretty harmful views…
The Jury: Murder Trial – what happened in episode one?
“Could it be he’s sick to death of living in this [bleep]hole and she’s not doing anything about it. Is that why he’s all of a sudden lost his temper and thought I can’t cope with this any more,” said one juror called Ricky, speaking about the accused.
Talk then turned to Helen’s three kids, who lived with their “retrospective dads”. “Three children by different dads,” said another male jury member. “All I know is she don’t keep her legs shut very often,” said another named Keith about the victim.
“Yeah, she’s had a few geezers,” said another. “Yeah, she’s been round the roundabout a few times,” Ricky replied.
Kelly, a female jury member, then spoke to camera and said: “They were talking about her sleeping with men, that’s really [bleed] me off. How are you sitting there blaming the victim? You don’t even know the full story yet. I just don’t agree with that.”
Talking to Kelly, another female jury member said: “People have said some very sexist things here.” “I kept going a bit quiet,” Kelly added. “It’s not respectful and I’m quite shocked by that,” a jury member called Rosie added.
Viewers react
Twitter was up in arms over the comments as the first episode of The Jury: Murder Trial aired.
“The men are talking about how many men the murder victim has slept with? On TV? Imagine what they say when the cameras aren’t rolling!” said one.
“The misogyny of some of these me on #thejury #c4 she deserved to be murdered because she had been round the block a bit. Wow! Imagine this the other way around. Truly shocking. RIP,” said another.
“The middle aged men scrabbling around to find justification of a man beating his wife dead with a hammer is mind boggling and quite a scary insight into our justice system,” said a third.
Another added: “‘What did she say that could’ve provoked him?’ I can PROMISE you, nothing that she could’ve said could’ve warranted him strangling her then hitting her head with a hammer three times.”
“When they were saying did he get [bleep]ed off because the house was a mess I was like [gun emoji],” said another.
“What century are we in?” another then commented.
“Blimey, there are some men on that jury who need a good talking to about misogyny and victim blaming,” another then commented.
“Where did they drag up these neanderthals? So far the men have asked what the wife said to the husband who strangled and hit her over the head three times with a hammer and that she did nothing about the [bleep]hole they lived in!!” another outraged viewer fumed.
‘Victim blaming’
“Prejudging, victim blaming, so many of their personal experiences influencing their beliefs, the blatant misogyny, but also if this is a true transcript, it lacks any clarity, fails to demonstrate the finer details. The calibre of some on the jury is worrying,” another then commented.
“Vile, making out she was a [bleep] who didn’t clean the house. If the blokes are saying this on TV, I dread to think what they talk about down the pub!!” another said.
“Stop victim blaming. The middle aged blokes are disgusting,” another concluded.
The Jury: Murder Trial continues tonight (February 27) on Channel 4 at 9pm. Or stream it on Channel 4 On Demand now.
Read more: Why some people are exempt from jury service and how much jurors get paid
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