Chelmsford Crown Court

Judicial building in Chelmsford, England

Chelmsford Crown Court

Chelmsford Crown Court

Location| New Street, Chelmsford
Coordinates| 51°44′10″N 0°28′26″E﻿ / ﻿51.7360°N 0.4738°E﻿ / 51.7360; 0.4738
Built| 1982
Architect| Property Services Agency
Architectural style(s)| Modernist style

Shown in Essex

Chemsford Crown Court is a Crown Court venue, which deals with criminal cases, in New Street, Chelmsford, England.

## History

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Until the early 1980s, all criminal court hearings in Chelmsford were held in the Shire Hall on the north side of Tindal Square.[1] However, as the number of court cases in Chelmsford grew, it became necessary to commission a more modern courthouse for criminal matters: the site selected by the Lord Chancellor's Department had been occupied by a residential area known as Marriages Square, which had dated back at least to the early 19th century,[2][3] but which was cleared away in 1953.[4]

The new building was designed by the Property Services Agency in the Modernist style, built in brown brick at a cost of £5.6 million,[5] and was completed in 1982.[6][7] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing onto New Street. The central section, which was projected forward, featured five glass doors on the left hand side; on the first floor the central section was cantilevered out over the pavement, with four recessed casement windows on the left and a Royal coat of arms on the right. The wings were irregularly fenestrated on both floors and, on the first floor, there were a series of recesses some of which contained casement windows and some of which were blind. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate seven courtrooms.[8]

Notable cases have included the trial and conviction of Jeremy Bamber, in October 1986, for the murder of his parents, Nevill and June Bamber, their adopted daughter, Sheila Caffell, and Sheila's six-year-old twin sons, Daniel and Nicholas Caffell at White House Farm.[9][10] The television series White House Farm, which dramatised the story of the murders, was also filmed in the courthouse.[11] The court was also the venue for the trial and conviction of the serial killer, Peter Tobin, in December 2009, for the murder of Dinah McNicol.[12][13]

## References

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1. ^ Armstrong, Sarah (2021). A Summer of Spying. Sandstone Press. ISBN 978-1913207670.
2. ^ Herapath's Railway Magazine, Commercial Journal, and Scientific Review. Vol. 1\. 1836. p. 170.
3. ^ "Ordnance Survey Map". 1914. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
4. ^ "Chelmsford Borough. Marriages Square. Clearance Order 1953". National Archives. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
5. ^ "Capital Building Programme". Hansard. 26 January 1996. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
6. ^ "Law Courts and Courtrooms 1: The Buildings of the Criminal Law". Historic England. 1 August 2016. p. 16. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
7. ^ Mulcahy, Linda; Rowden, Emma (2019). The Democratic Courthouse: A Modern History of Design, Due Process and Dignity. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 978-0429558689.
8. ^ "Chelmsford". Ministry of Justice. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
9. ^ Keel, Paul (29 October 1986). "Bamber's perfect crime brings 25-year sentence". The Guardian. 1.
10. ^ Morris, Lauren (2 December 2020). "Where was White House Farm filmed?". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
11. ^ Coole, Maria (22 January 2020). "White House Farm killer plans new appeal after TV drama shows 'alibi' scene". Marie Claire. Archived from the original on 22 January 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
12. ^ "Peter Tobin guilty of Dinah McNicol murder". The Guardian. 16 December 2009. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
13. ^ "Serial killer Peter Tobin who murdered Chelmsford schoolgirl dies in prison serving three life sentences". Essex Live. 8 October 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2023.

## External links

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* Court information