JURY trials are about to resume within 20 miles of Monmouth after an absence of nearly five years.

Cllr Roger Phillips, chairman of Herefordshire Council and a serving magistrate, said he had seen first-hand the new Crown Court facilities in Hereford’s Justice Centre in Bath Street, which will resume hearing cases this month.

Major cases were previously held at the Shire Hall – including the infamous trial of ‘Hay poisoner’ and solicitor Major Herbert Armstrong in 1922, executed for murderering his wife.

But its dilapidated state, which saw part of the ceiling fall down and nearly hit councillors in 2020, has since seen the city centre building shuttered, with local jury trials switched to Worcester and Gloucester crown courts, although sentencings have taken place at the Justice Centre .

Following a tour of the new court, Cllr Phillips said in a report to fellow county councillors: “It was important to see the return of the Crown Court to Hereford to ensure that local justice at that level is re-established and the backlog of cases can be tackled.”

The new court has been created out of two of the old magistrates’ courts, where a jury box has been installed, the secure dock repositioned with direct access to the cells, with the second court turned into the jury room, he explained.

Though retaining a traditional layout and the existing bench, the new courtroom has screens which can show CCTV footage, the testimony of underage witnesses, and of defendants on remand in non-trial cases.

A folding screen can also be used to prevent the defendant seeing a witness when giving evidence, “if deemed appropriate”, Cllr Phillips said.

The Justice Centre opened in 2001, with originally four magistrates courts, of which only two courts remain for adult, family and youth courts, “due to the apparent decline in crime and the removal of remand hearings from Herefordshire”, he added.

Other spaces in the building have also been converted in two smaller courts for tribunals and district judges’ hearings.