COMMENTS posted online by a juror following the verdict in the rugby rape trial have been referred to Attorney General John Larkin, who is set to investigate if a breach of the contempt of court law has occurred.
The remarks, which have since been removed, were made on Broadsheet.ie on Wednesday after Ulster and Ireland rugby players Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding were found not guilty of raping a woman in 2016.
The juror's first comment appeared hours after the unanimous not guilty verdicts were delivered in the trial of Jackson, Olding, Blane McIlroy and Rory Harrison.
Attorney General John Larkin will investigate if a breach of the contempt of court law has occurred.
A spokeswoman for the attorney general this morning confirmed to the Irish News the comments had been referred by Lord Chief Justice Declan Morgan.
The spokeswoman said the juror's comments are "under consideration".
The Lord Chief Justice's Office confirmed that it was informed of the juror's comments by the Courts Service, who raised the matter after a query from The Irish Times.
The Lord Chief Justice's Office advised the juror to remove the comments from the website "as a precautionary measure".
Police said they were aware of the comments.
"We are aware of comments made on a social media platform," said a PSNI spokesman.
Irish Times journalist Conor Gallagher, who first reported the story, said the juror had contacted The Irish Times last night to say they believed as they had not posted anything related to the jury's deliberations, they had not broken any laws.
The Gov.uk website issues advice to people serving on a jury during a trial and warns: "Don’t post comments about the trial on social media websites like Facebook or Twitter - even after the trial’s finished. This is contempt of court and you can be fined or sent to prison."
