More than 100 lawyers turned out to support Rajiv Menon KC at the Old Bailey today, Thursday 3rd September 2026. Photo credit: Jess Hurd
Menon faces an unprecedented prosecution for contempt of court which carries a custodial sentence of up to two years’ imprisonment, for his closing speech to the jury in a protest trial.
The lawyers stood behind a banner depicting the plaque displayed inside the Old Bailey which underscores the centrality of the independence of the jury in our justice system and a celebrated part of British legal history. Rajiv Menon’s closing speech for which he is being prosecuted referred to the Bushell case. Edward Bushell was the foreman of a jury whose members were imprisoned in the Tower of London by the trial judge for refusing to convict two Quakers, William Penn and William Mead, of unlawful assembly. He brought a claim in habeas corpus securing their release, and a landmark judgment which established the absolute independence of the jury in deciding guilt and in accordance with their own consciences. The lawyers’ silent gathering took place on the anniversary of the case.
Menon has spoken about the ‘chilling effect’ his case is having on defence lawyers in an interview with Democracy Now! (as reported on Legal Futures). ‘I just feel that it’s important that I have a voice in this and that I at least address some of the matters in general terms that I’m accused of, as opposed to simply waiting for my opportunity in court months from now to say what I need to say.’ He ‘categorically’ denied deliberately or inadvertently breaching any judicial order.
In a second interview with the Observer, Menon explained how his speech quoted the wording of the plaque which celebrated the 1670 case that established, as written, the ‘right of juries to give their verdict according to their convictions’ and which, he argued, was often referenced in closing arguments.
‘I discussed it with my team, and I spoke to other lawyers about it because it’s not in the interests of any defendant that their barrister tries to flout judicial rulings. Why would anybody with their right mind do that?’ he said. ‘I was trying to do the very opposite. The whole point was to try to construct a speech that was compliant with his rulings and the conclusion that I reached at the end of those various discussions was that I was not going to say anything about jury equity to the jury, and I didn’t. I kept on reinforcing in my speech, I’m not inviting you to disregard the judge’s rulings. On the contrary, I’m asking you the very opposite – I’m asking you to follow the judge’s rulings, and the very first ruling he’s given you is that you are the sole judges of the facts.’
Menon said that he just wanted to ‘get on with the day job and I’m trying to do that. It’s not easy. I have to tell every defendant who wants to instruct me, “Oh, by the way, I might be in prison by the time your trial comes up.” I mean, who wants to go through that?’
Menon is a respected and experienced barrister with a long record representing victims of miscarriages of justice and holding the state to account for abuse of power. His clients have included families of the Hillsborough victims and those spied on by the police in the Undercover Police Inquiry.
Read Matt Foot on Rajiv Menon, jury speech and the Bushell case here
