'Super courtroom' to open in Loughborough to deal with gang trials

The new facility has been created at Loughborough Magistrates' Court

A "super courtroom" has been built to help deal with gang trials with large numbers of defendants.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed the court, the second of its kind in the country, will open in Loughborough, Leicestershire, later.

About £2.7m was spent creating a space at the town's magistrates' court three times the size of a normal courtroom.

It will be used for cases such as county lines drug trafficking, murders and money laundering.

A nine-defendant murder trial is due to begin later.

Trials that require this level of space - known as multi-handers if they involve three or more defendants - have built up during the pandemic due to social distancing restrictions.

The first "super courtroom" opened in Manchester in September.

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said: "This new super courtroom will be an important asset as we start to reduce the backlog.

"It will free up space elsewhere in our court estate - allowing us to hear up to 250 extra cases every year."