Judge to decide on Stuart Syvret's Royal Court appeal

Stuart Syvret did not complete any of the 80 hours of community service he was originally given

A judge will decide if a Royal Court appeal can be opened into a case by the Magistrates Court.

It is believed to be the first time this has happened in Jersey.

Stuart Syvret wants his case reopened and claims his conviction for breaking data protection laws may not have happened had evidence not been kept from him.

The former health minister is serving an eight-week prison sentence for failing to do his community service.

Sir Christopher Pitchers, a Commissioner for the Royal Court, is considering whether the new evidence from two witnesses would have affected Syvret's original conviction.

'No precedence'

Syvret lost his appeal in the Royal Court in August against a contempt of court conviction and was ordered to do 80 hours of community service.

But after failing to complete any of the sentence, Jersey magistrate Bridget Shaw re-sentenced Syvret to eight weeks in prison for his contempt of court offence.

Syvret was arrested and charged with breaching data protection laws in 2009 when he published personal information on his blog.

He failed to appear before magistrates and fled to England, which led to the contempt of court conviction.

The judge told the court he would send a written judgement to Syvret once his decision was made.

He said since there was no precedence for a case like this in Jersey, it made it more complicated, so he could not make a judgement on Wednesday morning.