And so the slide begins...
First no-jury crime trial begins
Four men have appeared in court in the first crown court criminal trial to be held without a jury in England and Wales for more than 350 years.
The case concerns four men accused of a £1.75m armed robbery at a cash depot at Heathrow Airport, west London, in 2004.
Last June, Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge made legal history by allowing the trial to be heard by a judge alone as he feared jury "tampering".
One of the accused men's barristers said: "We are breaking history."
John Twomey, 61, Barry Hibberd, 43, Peter Blake, 57, and Glen Cameron, 50, all deny a series of charges including robbery and firearm possession.
Police protection
It is the fourth trial connected to the robbery.
As the trial began Sam Stein QC, representing Hibberd, remarked: "We are breaking history. This is the first time that a court has started a jury-less trial."
BBC legal affairs analyst Clive Coleman said trial by jury was a hallowed principle stretching back to the Magna Carta in 1215.
But, he said, it was now limited by legislation, which allowed non-jury trial if, as Lord Judge found in this case, there was a real and present danger of jury tampering which could not reasonably be protected against.
Last June, Lord Judge said the cost of the measures needed to protect jurors from potential influence, such as the services of police officers, was too high and that such measures might not properly insulate them.
The trial will be the first Crown Court case in England and Wales to be heard by a judge alone using powers under Sections 44 and 46 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which came into force in July 2007.
No-jury trials are a more regular feature of justice elsewhere in the UK.
Diplock courts have been used in Northern Ireland since 1973 to combat jury intimidation by paramilitary groups.
And some criminal cases in Scotland are heard by a sheriff in the Sheriff Court or by a bench of one or more lay justices in justice of the peace courts.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/london/8453318.stm
Published: 2010/01/12 13:32:42 GMT
© BBC MMX
Four men have appeared in court in the first crown court criminal trial to be held without a jury in England and Wales for more than 350 years.
The case concerns four men accused of a £1.75m armed robbery at a cash depot at Heathrow Airport, west London, in 2004.
Last June, Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge made legal history by allowing the trial to be heard by a judge alone as he feared jury "tampering".
One of the accused men's barristers said: "We are breaking history."
John Twomey, 61, Barry Hibberd, 43, Peter Blake, 57, and Glen Cameron, 50, all deny a series of charges including robbery and firearm possession.
Police protection
It is the fourth trial connected to the robbery.
As the trial began Sam Stein QC, representing Hibberd, remarked: "We are breaking history. This is the first time that a court has started a jury-less trial."
BBC legal affairs analyst Clive Coleman said trial by jury was a hallowed principle stretching back to the Magna Carta in 1215.
But, he said, it was now limited by legislation, which allowed non-jury trial if, as Lord Judge found in this case, there was a real and present danger of jury tampering which could not reasonably be protected against.
Last June, Lord Judge said the cost of the measures needed to protect jurors from potential influence, such as the services of police officers, was too high and that such measures might not properly insulate them.
The trial will be the first Crown Court case in England and Wales to be heard by a judge alone using powers under Sections 44 and 46 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which came into force in July 2007.
No-jury trials are a more regular feature of justice elsewhere in the UK.
Diplock courts have been used in Northern Ireland since 1973 to combat jury intimidation by paramilitary groups.
And some criminal cases in Scotland are heard by a sheriff in the Sheriff Court or by a bench of one or more lay justices in justice of the peace courts.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/london/8453318.stm
Published: 2010/01/12 13:32:42 GMT
© BBC MMX
posted by Mr Insignificant at 1:48 pm
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