Juror 'committed sex crime during break for lunch'
Your support helps us to tell the story
As your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.
Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn't have the resources to challenge those in power.
Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November election
Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
A juror sitting on a sexual assault case went out during his lunch break and committed a sex crime himself, a court heard.
Former soldier Alan Edwards was serving as a juror in the case of a sexual assault on a teenage girl, Bristol Crown Court heard yesterday.
On the third day of the case, he went to a city law firm's office and molested the receptionist.
Edwards, 58, of the Portway, Shirehampton, in Bristol, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to a sexual assault charge, court staff confirmed today.
A jury of seven men and five women yesterday returned a unanimous not guilty verdict, agreeing he was not in control of his actions at the time.
But it was accepted he committed the act, and Judge Simon Darwall-Smith adjourned the case to sentence him accordingly.
Judge Darwall-Smith told Edwards he must register as a sex offender.
The court heard psychiatric consultants concluded Edwards was suffering psychotic symptoms at the time of the incident.
He will be sentenced next month at Bristol Crown Court on a date to be fixed.
This article is from The Belfast Telegraph
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.