On the 7th of July 2008 the IV year Law group were taken to the Winchester Crown Court to witness some court cases. The four girls, Harriet, Caitlin, Alice and I, Jessica, were accompanied by Mr. Carpenter and Mrs. Charles. We left Alton Convent school promptly at 9 'o'clock and after stopping for a quick drink and a briefing about the background of the cases, we hurried into the public viewing area and took our seats. Not long after sitting down, we had to rise again for the judge who now entered the court.

The case was about how a soldier had been punished in the form of vigorous exercise which resulted in him dieing. There were two witnesses, a soldier and a doctor. The soldier was familiar with the soldier who had died and was giving evidence about how the army punished people by giving an account of when he was punished for being late. The doctor had performed a post mortem on the soldier who had died. We were lucky enough to see all three of the Barristers question the doctor and to hear what the doctor had to say. However, we did not get to see all of the soldiers questioning. Instead, we made our way into another court case and managed to hear a little about what was going on there before it closed for lunch.

The six of us then went into town for lunch at Pizza Hut. We all thoroughly enjoyed the day out and we would all love to do it again next year and maybe spend the afternoon there in order to hear the verdict. It was also a very special experience because we got to share it with Mrs Charles, a former law teacher in Alton Convent School.

Jessica, IVM