The jury is independent and so can decide cases on their idea of 'fairness' rather than strictly applying the law, this is referred to as jury equity, in PONTING'S CASE (1984) a civil servant leaked information on the sinking of an enemy ship in the Falkland's war and at his trial he argued that he acted in the public interest so the jury acquitted him even though he had no defence in law. However, the fact that the jury can ignore the strict letter of the law may lead to perverse verdicts that are not justified, in R Vee POTTLE (1991) the D's were charged with helping the Soviet spy George Blake to escape from prison, their prosecution did not occur until 25 years after the escape, when they wrote about what they had done. The jury acquitted the D's, ignoring a clear direction from the judge to convict.