Hove Trial 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

magistrates' court A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings. Courts * Magistrates' court (England and Wales) * Magistrate's Cour ...

in Lansdowne Road,

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...

, England.

History

For much of the 20th century, criminal court hearings in Hove took place in the old

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

. Although much of the building was badly damaged by a fire in January 1966, the magistrates' court and court offices moved to the western part of the building, which had not been damaged by the fire. However, as the number of court cases in Hove grew, it became necessary to commission a more modern courthouse to accommodate the crown court and the magistrates' court. 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 Lansdowne Road, was open land which had once been occupied by a group of allotment gardens. The new building was designed by

Fitzroy Robinson & Partners Fitzroy Robinson & Partners was one of the UK's largest firms of architects. It was based at Devonshire Street in London. History The firm was established by Herbert Fitzroy Robinson in 1956. Public buildings designed by the firm included 102 Pet ...

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 brown-blue brick from

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

at a cost of £380,000 and was completed in 1972. The design involved a low-set, "strongly horizontal" structure facing onto Lansdowne Road. At the centre of the main frontage there was a short flight of steps leading up to an opening containing three glass doorways; above the opening was a concrete panel bearing a Royal coat of arms. The ground floor, which was brick-faced, was recessed under concrete panelling, while the first floor, which was fenestrated with a row of

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, was recessed under concrete panelling in a similar style. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate four courtrooms. Notable cases have included the trial and conviction of a car mechanic, Daniel Appleton, in December 2020, for the murder of his wife and a neighbour. They have also included the trial and conviction of a builder, Mark Brown, for the murders of Alexandra Morgan and Leah Ware.

References

External links

Court information
{{Brighton and Hove buildings Buildings and structures in Brighton and Hove Crown Court buildings Government buildings completed in 1972 Court buildings in England