Jury hung, discharged in veteran crime journalist Steve Barrett’s trial

A jury has been discharged after they were unable to reach a verdict in the trial of journalist Steve Barrett who was jointly accused of blackmailing a $105m tax fraud syndicate.

Steve Barrett leaves the Supreme Court in Sydney on Wednesday. Picture: Joel Carrett

A jury has been discharged after they were unable to reach a verdict in the trial of journalist Steve Barrett who was accused of blackmailing a tax fraud syndicate in a joint effort to extort $5 million from the scam‘s alleged mastermind Adam Cranston.

NSW Supreme Court Judge Peter Johnson discharged the jury – which had been reduced from 12 people to 11 – just after 3.30pm on Tuesday, after the foreman confirmed they had reached an impasse during their ninth day of deliberations.

“It’s understandable there would be sense of disappointment in this outcome considering the time you have invested in this trial over five weeks,” Judge Johnson told the jury. “I want to emphasise that you have served the community as jurors in this trial, it does happen from time to time that the jury cannot reach a verdict.”

Mr Barrett, 63, who once worked for 60 Minutes, the Seven Network and The Australian, faced a five-week trial over allegations he blackmailed the Plutus Payroll tax fraudsters in a scheme that was spearheaded by the crown’s star witness, property developer Daniel Hausman, and his co-conspirator Daniel Rostanovski.

Outside court, defence barrister Clive Steirn, SC, said Mr Barrett would continue the fight to clear his name. “Mr Barrett maintains his plea of not guilty and that will remain,” he said.

When asked if he would be able to withstand another lengthy trial, an emotional Mr Barrett responded: “Of course I am. I’m not guilty.”

He pleaded not guilty to “making an unwarranted demand with menaces” in February 2017, “with the intention of obtaining a gain” during a bugged meeting at the Martin Place office of tax lawyer and alleged Plutus conspirator, Dev Menon.

Mr Barrett claimed he was just “shaking the tree” when he was caught on tape allegedly blackmailing Mr Cranston, the son of former deputy Australian Taxation Office commissioner Michael Cranston, with a threat to expose the scam by using his media credentials as a bargaining chip in Hausman’s extortion plot. The court was told the demand for $5 million was made by Rostankovski after Mr Barrett had left the room.

Mr Cranston is accused of creating Plutus Payroll and using the bogus company to withhold pay-as-you-go tax worth $105m in a scheme police believe was one of the largest alleged tax frauds in Australian history.

A juror was discharged on Friday after Judge Johnson said he had received a note reading: “I cannot come into the courtroom with the other jurors, I am scared to be in the room. Please discharge me, sorry.”

The jury had sent several notes, including a final one on Tuesday reading: “The jury has not reached a majority verdict and cannot see a possibility in doing so.”

The jury of six men and five women had deliberated for nine days. They were unable to reach a verdict on whether Mr Barrett was part of a joint criminal enterprise, along with Hausman and Rostanovski.

The matter will return to court on June 4.