Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003

79 Separation of jury after retiral S

It shall no longer be mandatory for the period during which a jury, after retiring to consider their verdict, are enclosed to be continuous; and accordingly, in section 99 of the 1995 Act (seclusion of jury to consider verdict)—

(a) in subsection (1), for the word “after” there is substituted “ while ”;

(b) in subsection (2), for the words “until the jury” there is substituted “ while the jury are enclosed and until they ”;

(c) in subsection (4)(b), after the word “and” there is inserted “ , unless under subsection (7) below the court permits them to separate, ”; and

(d) at the end there is added—

“(7) The court may, if it thinks fit, permit the jury to separate even after they have retired to consider their verdict.”.