A YOUNG mother from East Lancashire has denied deliberately taking a picture of a judge and her sister during a crown court trial.

Kieley McKenzie, 24, insisted she had “panicked” after her father called her during the case and was trying to turn her mobile off when she “accidentally” took the snap, Burnley Crown Court was told.

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She was sat in the public gallery while her sister, Nicole McKenzie, gave evidence during an affray trial for Louis Lockett, 27, from Barrowford, when the incident took place, the court heard.

Trial judge Graham Knowles QC ordered her phone, a Samsung Galaxy, to be seized after it was believed a picture had been taken. Police found an image of the judge, her sister, and the armrest of the chair where she sat.

Cross-examined by her counsel Kate Hammond about how the photo came to be taken, she said she realised that she had a incoming call from her father on the phone, which was on ‘silent’ mode. She told the court she ‘swiped’ the face of the camera, in an attempt to turn if off, when she saw the call coming through.

McKenzie said: “In the heat of the moment, to be honest, I just panicked to try to switch the phone off, and pressed all the buttons at once.”

Prosecutor Benjamin Lawrence asked why she had the phone with her and she said her son was ill and she was expecting a call from her aunt. Asked if she had deliberately taken a picture she said: “Definitely notI wouldn’t do that. It’s not right, it is not something to be proud of.”

McKenzie, of Colbran Street, Burnley, who denied contempt of court, will learn her fate on Thursday and was remanded on bail by Judge Knowles.

Her mother Ellen Byker, 50, and sister Nicole McKenzie, 25, both of Wharfedale Avenue, Reedley, each admitted two offences of contempt of court, relating to the same case, after they twice disobeyed a summons to attend court to give evidence.

But Judge Knowles, who heard that the pair had each spent a night in the court cells and five or six days respectively at Styal Prison for the offences, had effectively already been punished. He gave them seven-day terms which allowed for their immediate release. Lockett, who was found guilty of affray and jailed for 16 months, after the original trial.