On Monday the 12th of August 2019 I attended Cambridge Magistrates’ court to observe proceedings, with a view to reporting on them if anything newsworthy took place. I was not able to obtain information which I understand I was entitled to and which I felt I needed both to decide which cases to observe and [...]
Book Cited By Cambridge City Council Justifying Foray Into Restorative Justice On Thursday the 15th of March councillors on Cambridge City Council’s Community Services Scrutiny Committee will discuss bringing a new form of restorative justice to Cambridge. Meetings called “Neighbourhood Resolution Panels” which would involve “offenders” discussing their actions with their victims in sessions chaired [...]
Inside Cambridge Magistrates’ Court (source) I went to Cambridge magistrates courts on Monday the 25th of July 2011 as this was the date set for the trial of Mr Jacob Wills and Mr Curtis-Watson following allegations they had obstructed PC Hinks in Kings College Cambridge after a protest in the city. The case was not [...]
Cambridge Magistrates’ Court On Monday the 7th of March 2011 I spent the day observing two of the magistrates courts sitting in Cambridge. I went along primarily to see the students sprayed with “Pava” by police officers within Kings College at their first court appearance. Having seen a video showing the police use of the [...]
Observing History – Heathrow Robbery Trial Starts Without Jury Supporters of the defendants in the UK’s first modern criminal trial where a jury has been denied placed banners on the railings outside the Royal Courts of Justice. This morning I went to the Royal Courts of Justice to personally witness the start of the first [...]
The Royal Courts of Justice. The country’s great cathedral of justice is reduced to a mere reminder of a past era by the government’s erosion of the right to trial by jury. (Photo credit: antmoose) The first criminal trial without a jury in modern times is to begin on Tuesday the 12th of January 2009. [...]
I visited the new Cambridge Magistrates’ Court on Thursday the 23rd of October. I had visited at 14.00 on the afternoon of the opening day – on Monday the 20th, to be told that there were no courts sitting that afternoon, and there would not be any adult courts until Thursday. This left me concerned [...]
I have just commented on the article on the Imperial College student run news website Live! on a prospective medical student who had his medical school place taken away from him due to a referral order he had received following a burglary at the age of 15. In a Guardian article the prospective student has [...]
I spent a day watching the Cambridge Magistrates Courts in action today. Of the defendants I saw there were two eastern Europeans, one person from 222 Victoria Road, one from Jimmy’s night shelter, an elderly British man, and four young apparently local men in their teens/early twenties. I saw eight defendants, all were male. I [...]
Following my experience as a member of a Jury I wrote to my MP with some very simple suggestions for improving the Jury trial process: David Howarth, I would like to suggest that you seek to amend the Criminal Justice Act (or the relevant legislation) to ensure: A Jury should always be sent out of [...]