The case concerns an armed robbery at a warehouse at Heathrow
Four men accused of being part of a gang that stole £1.75 million in a raid at Heathrow face the first criminal trial without a jury in England and Wales for 400 years after an historic Court of Appeal decision yesterday.
John Twomey, 61, Peter Blake, 56, Barry Hibberd, 41, and Glen Cameron, 49, must be tried by a judge alone after claims of jury nobbling at a previous trial, the court ruled.
The four are alleged to have taken part in a bungled armed robbery of a Menzies World Cargo warehouse in February 2004. They deny a series of charges, including conspiracy to rob and the possession of a firearm.
The robbery has already given rise to three trials at a total cost of £22 million. The third collapsed last year after what the judge called "a serious attempt at jury tampering".
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, with Lord Justice Goldring and Mr Justice McCombe, decided yesterday that the case could be heard by a judge alone. A preliminary hearing for the fourth trial is scheduled to take place at the Old Bailey on July 10.
The ruling means that the new trial, which would normally be tried by a jury, will be the first of its kind in England and Wales under legislation that took effect in 2003 to prevent jury nobbling. The only other judge-only trials for serious cases, known as Diplock trials, have been in Northern Ireland.
James Morton
1100-5255 Yonge Street
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1 comment:
Well Morton, you know what the german Philosopher Adorno said, (and I am paraphrasing somewhat because I don't have it right in front of me) . . ."There is no evolution in society from barbarism to civilization, but there is one from the cudgel to the neutron bomb." It seems to me that the evolution that we depended on in the legal system is slowly giving way to rather negative evolution. As Weber said, the evolution of technology does not bring us liberation but an ever more refined iron cage.
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