Sheffield Crown Court to use portable cabins for jury rooms

Juries at a court will consider their verdicts in portable cabins to maintain social distancing, a judge has said.

Plans are in place to install a number of the cabins in the car park at Sheffield Crown Court.

The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC told, jurors in one trial it was hoped they would be in place by the time the case ended next month.

The move is intended to help jurors keep a distance of 2m (more than 6ft) from each other.

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Judge Richardson however, said steps were being taken to install portable cabins as some retiring rooms at the court were "not big enough".

He said: "It's easier said than done.

"We need planning permission because we need to lop some trees in order for the crane to deliver them. Believe me it's a logistical nightmare."

He said if it was not possible to bring in the cabins the courtroom itself may have to be used as a retiring room but said that would have an impact on the court's ability to handle cases.

'No trees cut down'

Earlier this month, HMCTS said announced plans to use portable cabins to house facilities such as "waiting rooms, retiring rooms, bathrooms" but said they would not be used as courtrooms.

Jury trials resumed in some courts in England from 18 May and in Sheffield from 29 June having been suspended on 23 March due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Courts in England and Wales face a backlog of more than half a million criminal cases, according to official estimates from the Ministry of Justice published in June.

An HMCTS spokesman said portable cabins have already been installed at Bradford combined court and work to install cabins at Leeds Combined Court is due to begin on Wednesday.

To date 35 sites have been surveyed with plans in place to install cabins at courts in Grimsby, Middlesbrough, Hull and Preston.

He said no trees would be cut down in Sheffield.