Chemsford Crown Court is a Crown Court venue, which deals with criminal cases, in New Street,

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

, England.

History

Until the early 1980s, all criminal court hearings in Chelmsford were held in the Shire Hall on the north side of Tindal Square. However, as the number of court cases in Chelmsford grew, it became necessary to commission a more modern courthouse for criminal matters: the site selected by the

Lord Chancellor's Department The Lord Chancellor's Department was a United Kingdom government department answerable to the Lord Chancellor with jurisdiction over England and Wales. Created in 1885 as the Lord Chancellor's Office with a small staff to assist the Lord Chancel ...

had been occupied by a residential area known as Marriages Square, which had dated back at least to the early 19th century, but which was cleared away in 1953. The new building was designed by the

Property Services Agency The Property Services Agency (PSA) was an agency of the United Kingdom government, in existence from 1972 to 1993. Its role was to “provide, manage, maintain, and furnish the property used by the government, including defence establishments, offi ...

in the Modernist style, built in brown brick at a cost of £5.6 million, and was completed in 1982. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing onto New Street. The central section, which was projected forward, featured five glass doors on the left hand side; on the first floor the central section was

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...

ed out over the pavement, with four recessed casement windows on the left and a Royal coat of arms on the right. The wings were irregularly fenestrated on both floors and, on the first floor, there were a series of recesses some of which contained casement windows and some of which were blind. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate seven courtrooms. Notable cases have included the trial and conviction of

Jeremy Bamber Jeremy Nevill Bamber (born Jeremy Paul Marsham; 13 January 1961) is a British convicted murderer. He was convicted of the 1985 White House Farm murders in Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex, in which the victims included Bamber's adoptive parents, Ne ...

, in October 1986, for the murder of his parents, Nevill and June Bamber, their adopted daughter, Sheila Caffell, and Sheila's six-year-old twin sons, Daniel and Nicholas Caffell at White House Farm. The television series '' White House Farm'', which dramatised the story of the murders, was also filmed in the courthouse. The court was also the venue for the trial and conviction of the

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

Peter Tobin Peter Britton Tobin (27 August 1946 – 8 October 2022) was a Scottish convicted serial killer and sex offender who served a whole life order at HM Prison Edinburgh for three murders committed between 1991 and 2006. Police also investigated Tob ...

, in December 2009, for the murder of Dinah McNicol.

References

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External links

Court information
Chelmsford Crown Court buildings Government buildings completed in 1982 Court buildings in England