A prosecutor's accusations on Facebook that a defendant was lying prompted calls for his murder trial to be halted and landed her in hot water.

Takiyah Burgess's remarks that "Takiyah is in court ready for the lies" and "Takiyah is listening to a pack of lies" appear to have been posted while Antoine Anderson was giving evidence on February 11.

Anderson was convicted on Friday, along with Philip Bradshaw, of shooting father-of-three Aquil Richardson dead on Boxing Day 2007. The Facebook incident could not be reported until after the verdicts because the jury was not supposed to know.

Ms Burgess' comments were spotted on the popular networking website the day they were made by Anderson's Bermuda-based lawyer Elizabeth Christopher.

She explained to Chief Justice Richard Ground the following morning that her calls to Ms Burgess had failed to get them removed from her page. Anderson's British Queen's Counsel Benjamin Nolan then asked Mr. Justice Ground to halt the trial and discharge the jury.

"At this stage, this critical stage... whether deliberately or not a member of the prosecution team has gone online to say that the defendant's evidence in this case is in fact lies," he protested.

"Our concern is this: should any members of the jury have seen it or been alerted to it by other Facebook members, there may well be a risk of bias."

Mr. Nolan said Anderson, who was in the middle of testifying, was "wholly and completely unsettled" and "believes this is being done in order to undermine the fairness of his position while he's giving evidence in this case".

The jury and Ms Burgess, a junior Crown counsel, were absent from the courtroom while the matter was discussed. Ms Burgess was said to be at a dentist's appointment.

Bradshaw's lawyer Anesta Weekes QC told the Chief Justice: "In my 27 years at the Bar I haven't come across this. It's new to me. For this sort of comment to be made by a member of the prosecution team that's what gives it its special seriousness."

She added: "I cannot object to the application (to have the jury discharged) because I see from Mr. Anderson's point of view how serious is it."

Attempts were made to contact Ms Burgess to get her to take the remarks off Facebook, and a colleague from the Department of Public Prosecutions was dispatched to track her down. Her page lists her as having 449 Facebook friends who, the lawyers feared, could all see her comments.

"There comes a point when if she doesn't take it down, she goes to jail. She'd better take it down right now," warned the Chief Justice. Some minutes later, they disappeared.

Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Michael McColm, who led the prosecution case, objected to having the jury discharged.

"There's nothing to indicate at this point in time that the jury has any knowledge of this publication," he said, pointing out they had been told to ignore outside comments about the case.

The Chief Justice eventually ruled that the trial should continue, saying: "I appreciate that this sort of thing has a viral effect (but) the gossip that a junior prosecutor is saying he's lying doesn't carry enough weight."

However, Mr. Justice Ground added: "That is not to say that I don't take this very seriously indeed and I will refer this both to the Bar Council, with a view to disciplinary proceedings, and to the Director of Public Prosecutions to take whatever action he deems appropriate."

The Chief Justice also warned the press they could not report the incident until the trial was over.

Speaking on Thursday, Bar Council president Rod Attride-Stirling said he had no knowledge of the matter, adding: "However, we will observe that if a disciplinary matter was underway, that our statutory regime prevents us from discussing pending disciplinary cases."

Director of Public Prosecutions Rory Field said: "The matter is being dealt with internally and because of that, I do not wish to make any comment at this time."

Ms Burgess who did not return to court for the rest of the trial after the incident did not respond to e-mails.