Four jailed for plan to fix Coventry boxing promoter's trial

Lorraine Frisby admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, while Damien Drackley, Laurence Hayden and Mark Walker were found guilty of the same offence

Four people have been jailed for trying to fix a boxing promoter's trial.

The Old Bailey heard how Leslie Allen, 66, recruited them after being charged with possessing cannabis and cocaine worth £150,000 in 2018.

The plot backfired when a Warwick Crown Court drugs trial jury became concerned by juror Damien Drackley's behaviour.

Allen and Drackley were later convicted, along with middleman Mark Walker, of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Drackley's mother Lorraine Frisby had admitted the same offence and soliciting the disclosure of jury deliberations.

All four were given prison sentences in London on Friday. A fifth convicted conspirator, and witness in the original drugs trial, Laurence Hayden, is yet to be sentenced.

Leslie Allen was found guilty of drugs offences without a jury and jailed for 13 years

The Old Bailey heard that in Allen's original drugs trial, jurors at Warwick Crown Court had been left puzzled when witness Hayden, nicknamed Del Boy, had visibly nodded and winked at Drackley as he came to give evidence.

The Warwick jury reported Drackley to the judge when they became suspicious of him during deliberations and the judge went on to convict Allen of drugs offences without the jury, jailing him for 13 years.

The Old Bailey heard Drackley had been promised £5,000, via middleman Walker, to influence fellow jurors back in 2018.

During the latest trial, Drackley admitted speaking to his mother Lorraine Frisby about the case on a daily basis.

The Old Bailey heard Damien Drackley had tried to influence other jurors to find Leslie Allen not guilty

On Friday, Allen appeared at the Old Bailey by video link from prison while Frisby, Drackley and Walker attended court in person where they were sentenced by Mr Justice Cavanagh.

• Allen, from Coventry, was handed a five-year prison sentence to run consecutively to his drugs sentence.

• Drackley, 37, from Nuneaton, was jailed for four years

• Frisby, 56, from Birmingham, was sentenced to two years and three months

• Walker, 57, from Coventry, was given nine months

Convicted co-conspirator Hayden, 53, of Coventry, failed to attend his trial. He was since arrested in Spain under an extradition warrant, the court was told.