The Derby Combined Court Centre is a

Crown Court The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all Indictable offence, indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals lied to it by the Magistrates' court, magistrates' court ...

venue, which deals with criminal cases, as well as a

County Court A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions (subnational entities) within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of ''county courts'' held by the high ...

, which deals with civil cases, in Morledge,

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

, England.

History

Until the late 1980s, criminal court hearings were held in the County Hall in St Mary's Gate. However, as the number of court cases in the Derby area grew, it became necessary to commission a more modern courthouse. 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 ...

, on the north side of Morledge, had accommodated a lead foundry owned by Cox, Poyser and Company before the area was cleared. A high tower, used for lead shot production, had been a prominent local landmark before it was demolished and replaced with a covered market in 1932. 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 red brick at a cost of £7.4 million, and was officially opened by the

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Lord Lane Geoffrey Dawson Lane, Baron Lane, (17 July 1918 – 22 August 2005) was a British Judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of England from 1980 to 1992. The later part of his term was marred by a succession of disputed convictions. Lane's criti ...

, on 17 May 1989. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of thirteen bays facing onto Morledge. The left hand section, which was projected forward, was fenestrated with tall

casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a cas ...

s on the ground floor and round headed windows on the first floor. The right hand section featured, on the left, three full-height recesses enclosing three glass doorways leading to an

atrium Atrium may refer to: Anatomy * Atrium (heart), an anatomical structure of the heart * Atrium, the genital structure next to the genital aperture in the reproductive system of gastropods * Atrium of the ventricular system of the brain * Pulmona ...

. There was a large Royal coat of arms above the central doorway and, on the right, there were four more bays fenestrated with tall casement windows on both floors. There was also an attic level fenestrated by small bi-partite windows and surmounted by prominent

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate nine courtrooms. Notable cases have included the trial and conviction of Jason Lawrance, in March 2016, on five counts of rape against women he met through the

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, the trial and conviction of John Wass, in August 2017, on 17 counts of historical child abuse which included rape, sexual assault and sexual exposure, and the trial and conviction of Damien Bendall, in December 2022, for the murder of his partner, Terri Harris, and three children.

References

{{reflist

External links

Court information
Buildings and structures in Derby Crown Court buildings Government buildings completed in 1989 Court buildings in England