[Dan_]

from sky.com/news :

'Big Brother' Trial Fury
Updated: 14:39, Wednesday December 13, 2006

Plans for a televised 'celebrity' rape trial in which 12 celebrities will act as jurors has been criticised by victims groups.

The BBC2 show The Verdict will feature a fictitious trial in which two footballers are accused of rape.

On the jury will be the controversial former footballer Stan Collymore.

He has admitted 'dogging' in the past, in which people watch strangers having sex in public places, attacked his ex-girlfriend, the presenter Ulrika Jonsson, and in 2004 had charges including threatening to kill his ex-wife withdrawn.

The disgraced peer Jeffrey Archer will also be on the jury.


Collymore will be a 'juror'
He was jailed in 2001 for perjury and perverting the course of justice over his libel trial in which he denied having sex with the prostitute Monica Coghlan.

The mother of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne and the former Tory minister Michael Portillo will also feature.

The BBC said the show intended to look at how juries reach decisions in big crime cases.

But victims' groups said the show threatened to become a Big Brother-style event.

"The celebrities are there to get the bums on seats but it feels a bit like a court-based version of Big Brother," said Andrew Buckingham of the charity Victim Support.

The show will be broadcast next year.