Twenty fourth year GCSE Law students travelled to Winchester Combined Court in early July to hear a range of criminal cases. As Winchester is a Class 1 Crown court it often tries some of the most serious cases in the land, so we were very excited to have the chance of watching real live criminal trials.

Carole Abbott, the Management Support Officer, kindly agreed to show us inside Court 3 as it was not in session. Sitting on the seats normally reserved for barristers and solicitors, we heard her explain the roles of everyone involved in a criminal trial. As she was told that we were writing a piece of coursework at the moment on juries, she showed us their retiring room beneath the court itself. We thought it was small and somewhat claustrophobic.

Afterwards we watched a range of trials including a drugs matter, actual bodily harm & threats to kill. We saw a jury being sworn in which was so much more interesting and relevant than just learning about the process in a classroom.

It was a fantastic day and certainly helped us understand our Crown Court system much better.