Majority verdicts in criminal trials in the Isle of Man will be introduced in the new year.

Currently, a jury has to reach a unanimous verdict if a defendant is to be convicted following a trial in the Court of General Gaol Delivery.

Last month, a jury was discharged after failing to reach a unanimous decision in an indecent assault trial.

But under the provisions of the Justice Reform Act, majority verdicts will be accepted.

This will mean that a jury can return a guilty verdict if in a case where the jury comprises 11 or 12 jurors, at least 10 of them reach agreement, or in a case where the jury comprises seven jurors, six of them agree.

An appointed day order which will bring in majority verdicts into effect from a specified date is due to be laid before Tynwald soon.

Under the provisions, the Court of General Gaol Delivery will only accept a majority verdict of guilty if the jury been deliberating for not less than two hours and for a time the presiding Deemster thinks is reasonable given the nature and complexity of the case.

The foreman of the jury must also state the number of jurors who respectively agreed to and dissented from the verdict.

A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said: ‘An appointed day order in relation to majority verdicts and some other provisions is being prepared and is expected to come into operation shortly.

‘Once the majority verdict provisions are in place, a verdict will be taken to be unanimous when 10 jurors (in the case of an 11 or 12 juror jury) or six jurors (in the case of a seven-juror jury) fully deliberate and reach a decision.’

A number of sections of the Justice Reform Act 2021 have already come into force.

But the DHA spokesperson said that work is ongoing towards the full implementation.

She said this will include ‘operational planning’ and some further work on the planned Justice Reform (Amendment) Bill which will supplement the provisions in the 2021 Act.