A jury has been unable to reach verdicts in the trial of a University Challenge contestant accused of raping a fellow student.

Bartholomeo Joly de Lotbiniere, 21, was on trial at York Crown Court over an alleged incident at a halls of residence in June 2014.

After deliberating for almost 10 hours, the jury of eight men and four women was unable to reach verdicts on a charge of rape and indecent assault which the defendant denied.

Joly de Lotbiniere now has one week to find out if his case will go back to a re-trial or if he will be acquitted.

Bartholomeo Joly de Lotbiniere (pictured arriving at court this week) was accused of raping a woman at York University in June 2014

Joly de Lotbiniere appeared on University Challenge - but the subsequent social media fame prompted the complainant to go to the police when she recognised his name online

Judge Paul Batty QC gave the Crown Prosecution Service a week to consider whether it will seek a retrial and the case will be listed again on Thursday, February 23 for an administrative hearing.

The complainant had told the jury that Joly de Lotbiniere went into her room after they had been on a night out and then raped her as she tried to push him off.

Joly de Lotbiniere appeared on the popular BBC Two quiz show as part of the York University team in 2015 - more than a year after the alleged incident in June 2014.

He was shot into the limelight when a tweet by Pointless co-presenter Richard Osman poking fun at his triple-barrelled name granted him immediate social media fame.

But the barrage of attention on social media prompted the complainant to go to the police and report the alleged offence.

He denied rape and sexual assault.

Judge Paul Batty QC gave the Crown Prosecution Service a week to consider whether it will seek a retrial and the case will be listed again on February 23 for an administrative hearing

Joly de Lotbiniere, now studying for a Masters degree at University College London, denied rape and sexual assault

Joly de Lotbiniere, a former editor-in-chief of the York Vision newspaper, was educated at top Roman Catholic comprehensive The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in Holland Park, West London.

The student pictured arriving at court

Other former pupils of the respected school - which is non-selective save for its pupils having to be Catholics - include Labour MP Jack Dromey, ex-Chelsea footballer Eddie Newton, the late Doctor Who actor Roger Delgado and Oritse Williams from the boy band JLS.

Joly de Lotbiniere spoke after his appearance on University Challenge and admitted he had enjoyed the fame it brought.

When asked when he first found out he’d gone viral he said he was ‘stuck up a hill in Northern Italy on holiday without any wifi so I became aware only gradually’.

He added: ‘Something seemed suspicious when the local village children started to come up for autographs and then the local count held a banquet in my honour’.

York University’s student newspaper York Vision asked whether he was the campus’ most eligible bachelor.

He was also asked about what his family thought of his fame and said: ‘They’re quietly proud I think, and happy that somebody’s finally put the Joly de Lotbinière name on the map, even if it was to the ridicule of the unwashed masses of the twittersphere’.