A JURY member has been fined after researching information during a rape trial he was sitting on.

Alan Peck, of Green Lane, Chesterton near Bicester, appeared at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday (August 8) charged with one count of being a member of a jury carrying out research during the trial period.

The 73-year-old was caught carrying out research while sitting on the trial of Jay Spinks in December 2022.

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(Image: Newsquest)

Spinks was jailed for four-and-a-half years after being found guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl at a Bicester skate park in September 2020.

Peck pleaded guilty to researching the weather forecast for the day the offence was committed.

He was fined £1,000. If not paid in three months, he will serve 30 days imprisonment