Juror 'committed sex crime during break for lunch'
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
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