The case referred to in the previous post was indeed dealt with in a court some way away, but I had the privilege of finding out what is going on from Someone In The Know. As it turned out there was another murder that did come to us today. I was in a different courtroom, but the lay bench in another court did see the murder case, although our DJ was sitting doing something else. The whole thing was over in five minutes, and the alleged killer was on his way to the Old Bailey.
I have no idea who it was but a couple of times during our morning trial there was a loud banging from the cells under our courtroom, as one of our customers was clearly unhappy. It is surprising how much damage a very cross man can do:on one occasion a steel framed cell door was loosened in its brick wall by a prisoner using no more than his own strength. On my occasional forays downstairs I still see the damaged plaster around the outside of that door.
"but the lay bench in another court did see the murder case, although our DJ was sitting doing something else." So good sense hasn't entirely left our system.
ReplyDeleteWe are being told by our Justices Clerk and the MA to drop the term 'lay' as it is no longer appropriate, whether in lay bench or lay magistrate. Similarly, some of female justices (who of course outnumber males) are kicking against 'chairman', and pushing for the anodyne 'chair'.
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