Nottingham Crown Court has shut suddenly less than 24 hours after Nottinghamshire Live highlighted long-term problems with the building. Court users such as judges, clerks, ushers, barristers and jurors arrived from 9am to be told the building would be closing.
Staff at the Canal Street courthouse have been told to either work from home or from the nearby magistrates’ court which is still sitting. But when our reporter arrived there having left the crown court, a solicitor advocate told him that custody cases there were being sent to Mansfield Magistrates’ Court due to “cold temperatures in the cells” which has also dogged the crown court for the last few days.
We have contacted the Ministry of Justice for a statement and explanation as to precisely why the decision has been made and await a response. While that happens, anecdotally barristers have told us they have been told both “health and safety issues” and “something to do with the fire alarms” is behind it.
One barrister, who did not wish to be named, said: “This could well be down to the piece that was published on Nottinghamshire Live which was long overdue and highlighted problems many of us have been trying to raise for at least three years.”
In that piece yesterday, Wednesday January 8, we wrote that underfunding of the criminal justice system for years has left the building in a general state of disrepair. Over the past week prisoners have not been allowed in the cells as the temperature is too cold meaning trials, pleas and sentencing hearings have all been affected.
This has resulted in delays which have affected victims, witnesses, families and friends, defendants, jurors, judges, barristers and all the other court staff and users, as well as adding to the well-documented backlog of cases.
Nottingham Crown Court is closed today
(Image: Nottinghamshire Live)
Some trials at Nottingham Crown Court are being set well into 2026. One court user, who did not wish to be named, said: “It was right of Nottinghamshire Live to highlight the issues we are facing and it seems something of a coincidence that this has happened a day later.”
In our article we reported that last Friday Judge James Sampson said in open court: “I hope the story of the day is going to be that the cells are too cold to take prisoners?” Another case which did reach a conclusion on Monday had to be adjourned from last week because of the temperature.
Handing that man, who had been on bail, a suspended sentence, Judge Philip Head told him: “You turned up on Friday and we were told the cells at Nottingham Crown Court were not fit for their purpose. That is to say they were freezing cold.”
Speaking after a hearing, one barrister said: “It’s 9c in courtroom five, I can hardly feel my fingers and water is dripping from the ceiling on to one of the seats. It just needs some money spent on it.”