Jamaican dancehall star Vybz Kartel wins appeal over murder conviction

Last month, Kartel and his co-defendants mounted their final possible appeal at the Privy Council in London, the final court of appeal in Jamaica and some other Commonwealth countries.

Their lawyers argued the trial judge wrongly handled allegations that one juror offered 500,000 Jamaican dollars (around $3,200) to fellow jurors to return not guilty verdicts.

The defendants’ appeals were allowed on Thursday, with Judge David Lloyd-Jones saying the trial judge’s decision to allow the juror alleged to have offered bribes to continue on the jury was “fatal to the safety of the convictions”.

The Privy Council sent the case back to the Court of Appeal in Jamaica to decide whether Kartel and his co-defendants should stand trial again.