First criminal trial without a jury for 400 years to go ahead next week

Next week, in the Royal Courts of Justice in London, four men will stand trial charged with stealing £1.75 millon in an armed robbery of a cargo warehouse. Their case will not be heard by a jury of their peers, but by a single judge, after accusations of jury tampering has seen three trials collapse at a cost of £22 million. Northern Ireland excepted, this represents the first use of powers in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to allow such measures to be taken where jury nobbling is involved. Times report here.

This is to be challenged, perhaps unsurprisingly, by the prosecution. The case raises several concerns, not least of which is what happens when the sole judge decides not to admit a piece of evidence. Can he really put any knowledge of it from his mind?