Grimsby 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 ...

venue, which deals with civil cases, in Town Hall Square,

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...

, England.

History

Following the grant of a court of quarter sessions to the borough of Grimsby in 1891, hearings were typically held in the courtroom in

Grimsby Town Hall Grimsby Town Hall is a municipal building in Town Hall Square in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England. The building, which is the headquarters of North East Lincolnshire Council, is a Grade II listed building. History The first town hall in Grimsby, ...

. However, as the number of court cases in Grimsby 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 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 Chancell ...

, on the north side of Town Hall Square facing the town hall, had been occupied by the Tower Brewery which had closed in 1968. 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 Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...

, built in red brick at a cost of £4.8 million, and was completed in 1988. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of seven bays facing onto Town Hall Square but well set back from the road. A large part of the building projected out to the east behind the Municipal Offices. The two bays on the left were

canted Cant, CANT, canting, or canted may refer to: Language * Cant (language), a secret language * Beurla Reagaird, a language of the Scottish Highland Travellers * Scottish Cant, a language of the Scottish Lowland Travellers * Shelta or the Cant, a lan ...

forward and the end bays were canted back. The left hand end bay was blind on all floors. There was an opening, containing a glass doorway, in the second bay from the right, and, above the opening, there was a Royal coat of arms mounted on the brickwork. The other bays on the ground floor were fenestrated by round headed windows, while the first and second floors were fenestrated by segmental headed windows. The ground floor opening and the windows on all three floors were all surmounted by

voussoir A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault. Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...

s formed by cream coloured bricks, and there were diamond shapes formed by dark coloured bricks between the first and second floors. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate five courtrooms. Notable cases have included the trial and conviction of Marcel Reitman and Mathieu Poulissen, in June 2010, for heroin smuggling, the trial and conviction of Stephen Williams, in July 2013, for seven counts of rape and eight other sex offences, and the trial and conviction of Colin Smith, in February 2014, for eleven sex offences against a girl.

References

External links

{{commons category, Grimsby Combined Court Centre
Court information
Crown Court buildings Government buildings completed in 1988 Buildings and structures in Grimsby Court buildings in England