A juror at a trial that saw a football club owner jailed for 13 years claims he was offered £20,000 to find him guilty.

The whistleblower says he was approached in a park by two ‘thick-set’ men while the case of Fleetwood Town supremo Andy Pilley was ongoing and told there would be ‘consequences’ should he not accept the bribe, which others on the jury had allegedly taken.

In a panic, he fled overseas and was excused from duty. But when Pilley was locked up for more than a decade after being found guilty of fraud, the juror, who has asked to remain anonymous, reported the matter to police.

Pilley, 53, was jailed after being found guilty of a multi-million pound fraud that duped firms into signing up for expensive energy contracts. The case began at Preston Crown Court in October.

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A juror has claimed he was ‘offered £20,000’ to fix the trial of Fleetwood Town owner Andy Pilley (right) – with Pilley eventually jailed for 13 years after being found guilty of fraud

The whistleblower says he was approached in March, with the case in its sixth month. He said: ‘They were big blokes with southern accents. They followed me for a while. It was intimidating.

‘Everyone deserves a fair trial and people need to know what happened.’