ScalesOfJustice 250x300 Heathrow Armed Robbers Face First UK Trial without JuryA gang of 4 men are facing the first trial without jury for over 350 years in England and Wales after parts of the 2003 Criminal Justice Act came into effect last year. The case relates to the armed robbery of £1.75m from a cash depot at Heathrow Airport in 2004 by the 4 defendants.

The trial began yesterday with Sam Stein QC, one of the defendants barristers, commenting: “We are breaking history. This is the first time that a court has started a jury-less trial.”


Presiding judge, Mr Justice Treacy, then explained that he would be altering the normal procedure of giving the jury responsibility of the case and take this upon himself. In a further procedural break, the clerk of the court simply asked the judge to confirm that he had seen the indictment for the 18 charges against the defendants and once the judge had done this the trial proceeded.

The court heard how the gang tried to take more than £10m during the robbery, however the warehouse at Heathrow Airport only contained £1.75m. The gang had read a document incorrectly about the amount of money being held at the depot when they put their plans into action.

Last year Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, took the measure of allowing trials without a jury if there was potential of jury-tampering and reasonable measures could not be taken to prevent this, then the new legislation would allow the trial to go ahead.

As well as limiting the potential for jury-tampering the improved method will also cut down the amount of additional police security that is needed to safeguard the members of the jury.

This is the fourth time that the trial has been brought to court with the last attempt to try the accused being halted in December 2008 after accusations of tampering with the jury. With previous trials thought to have cost the taxpayer close to £24 million the prosecution applied for the trial without jury to prevent any further delays and costs.

The trial was adjourned after the initial statements and continues today.

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