Two brothers serving jail sentences for misleading thousands of customers at a winter wonderland theme park on the Hampshire and Dorset border have won the right to appeal their convictions.
Victor Mears, 67, and Henry Mears, 60, opened the Lapland New Forest park in 2008, but it was shut down within days after a deluge of complaints from unhappy customers.
Both men, from Brighton, were jailed for 13 months in March after they were convicted at Bristol Crown Court of misleading the public in relation to the attraction.
But yesterday, a top judge at London’s Court of Appeal granted them permission to appeal their convictions after hearing about alleged juror misconduct during the trial.
Geoffrey Robinson QC told the court that one female juror had been in regular contact with her fiance, who sat in the public gallery and hung around the court during the trial.
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