The AS Law students had a particularly fascinating day on their recent visit to Legal London.
Mrs Charles writes:
We sat in the famous Victorian Court 4 at the Royal Courts of Justice where the Lord Chief Justice normally presides over important criminal appeal cases. As we moved down the long gallery we heard legal arguments in the courts about the way a particular trial judge directed a jury, the major problems that result when there is a lengthy delay in any trial and the new provisions for allowing a jury to hear about a defendant’s bad character.
After walking through Lincoln’s Inn Fields and enjoying lunch in a nearby Starbucks we hurried on to the Old Bailey. Here we joined the long afternoon queue of defendants’ families to hear the latest criminal trials. The helpful security guards guided us to the front row of the public gallery in Court 12 and we spent the entire afternoon observing the trial of three new defendants charged with the tragic murder of young Damilola Taylor in 2000. The evidence from the witnesses and the whole process of the case gave us plenty of food for thought and group discussion afterwards.