The Oath & BetrayalThe Rigged Trial
The Rigged Trial
The Grand Jury's foreman was William Ponsonby, MP brother-in-law to the Home Secretary Lord Melbourne.Members of the Jury included James Frampton, his son Henry, his step-brother Charles Wollaston and several of the magistrates who had signed the arrest warrant.
The trial was presided over by Judge Baron Williams whose closed mind was evident even before it properly began.
"The object
of all legal punishment is not altogether with the view of operating on
the offenders themselves, it is also for the sake of offering an example
and a warning".