Jury Member No 12

A verdict is only one word. . . until you're the one who has to live with it.

On his twenty-second birthday, Brian Francis Collins expected to finish jury service and return to his job as a hotel gardener in County Down. Instead, his name was called for one of Northern Ireland's most controversial murder trials, and he became Juror Number 12.

The accused was Susan Christie.

The victim was Penelope McAllister, brutally killed in the haunting isolation of Drumkeeragh Forest.

Over the following weeks, Brian sat only feet from the woman accused of murder as prosecutors, forensic experts, psychiatrists and witnesses unravelled a story of obsession, betrayal, deception and psychological collapse. Every day brought new evidence. Every night raised new questions.

Then came the moment that changed everything.

A controversial verdict.

An explosion of anger inside the courtroom.

National newspaper headlines condemning the jury.

A sentence that shocked even those who delivered the verdict.

More than thirty years later, Brian tells the story from a perspective never before published the view from inside the jury box.

Part courtroom memoir, part true crime, and part psychological drama, Jury Member Number 12 explores not only what happened in Drumkeeragh Forest, but what it feels like to carry the weight of judging another human being.

This is not simply the story of a notorious murder.

It is the story of twelve ordinary people asked to make an extraordinary decision. . . and one juror who has never forgotten it.