Portsmouth Courts of Justice

Portsmouth Courts of Justice is a Crown Court venue, which deals with criminal cases, and a County Court venue, which deals with civil cases, in Winston Churchill Avenue, Portsmouth, England.

Portsmouth Courts of Justice
Portsmouth Courts of Justice
Location	Winston Churchill Avenue, Portsmouth
Coordinates	50°47′44″N 1°05′26″W / 50.7955°N 1.0906°W / 50.7955; -1.0906
Built	1982
Architect	Property Services Agency
Architectural style(s)	Modernist style
Shown in Hampshire

History

Until the early 1960s, criminal court hearings in Portsmouth were held in the courtroom in Portsmouth Guildhall.^[1][2] This was temporarily resolved when a new law courts building (now referred to as Portsmouth Magistrates' Court) was opened on the east side of a small courtyard off Winston Churchill Avenue in July 1960.^[3] However, as the number of court cases in Portsmouth grew, it became necessary to commission a courthouse with dedicated facilities for both Crown Court hearings, which require courtrooms suitable for trial by jury, and for County Court hearings. The site selected by the Lord Chancellor's Department, on the west side of the courtyard, had accommodated a series of rows of terraced housing (Swan Street, Russell Street and Upper Swan Street) which had been destroyed by German bombing during the Second World War.^[4][5]

The new building was designed by the Property Services Agency in the Modernist style, built in red brick at a cost of £7 million,^[6] and was opened in 1982.^[7][8] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing east onto a small courtyard. It featured a small flight of steps, to the left of centre, leading up to an opening containing three doorways. The building was fenestrated by a rows of casement windows on two floors with brickwork above and below. A Royal coat of arms, formed from cast iron, was mounted on a brick pedestal just to the right of the steps. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate nine courtrooms.^[9]

 

Portsmouth Magistrates Court, Hampshire Constabulary

Notable cases include the trial and conviction of David Lace, in June 1984, for robbery at a post office;^[10] in September 2009, some 21 years after his death, he was named by police as the murderer of Teresa De Simone.^[11][12] Notable cases also included the trial and conviction of Mark Brandford, in February 2021, for the murder of his girlfriend, Kayleigh Dunning.^[13][14][15]

References

1. Journal of the Statistical Society of London. Vol. 15–16. Statistical Society. 1853. p. 153.
2. Reports from the Commissioners, Inspectors and Others. Vol. 28. H. M. Stationery Office. 1919. p. 26.
3. Municipal Journal, Public Works Engineer Contractor's Guide. Vol. 68. 3 June 1960. Design of the new law courts at Portsmouth – due to be opened next month as a part of the first instalment of the city's civic centre.
4. "Ordnance Survey Map". 1914. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
5. "This city centre view is just about recognisable today". Portsmouth News. 8 June 2016. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
6. "Capital Building Programme". Hansard. 26 January 1996. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
7. "Law Courts and Courtrooms 1: The Buildings of the Criminal Law". Historic England. 1 August 2016. p. 16. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
8. Mulcahy, Linda; Rowden, Emma (2019). The Democratic Courthouse: A Modern History of Design, Due Process and Dignity. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 978-0429558689.
9. "Portsmouth". Ministry of Justice. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
10. Law, Peter (17 September 2009). "David Lace's life was a turbulent one, say police". Southern Daily Echo. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
11. "David Lace named as the killer of Teresa De Simone". Southern Daily Echo. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
12. "Police name David Lace as true killer of Teresa De Simone". The Times. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
13. "Kayleigh Dunning: Partner guilty of 'marriage proposal' murder". BBC News. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
14. "Mark Brandford jailed for life with minimum 23 years for murder of fianceé Kayleigh Dunning". Hampshire Live. 8 March 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
15. "'Jealous' Mark Brandford jailed for 23 years for murder of Kayleigh Dunning". Portsmouth News. 8 March 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2023.

External links

• Court information