Kingston upon Thames Crown Court is a Crown Court venue which deals with criminal cases at 6–8 Penrhyn Road,

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable ...

, London.

History

Until the late 1990s, Crown Court hearings were held at the

Sessions House A sessions house in the United Kingdom was historically a courthouse that served as a dedicated court of quarter sessions, where criminal trials were held four times a year on quarter days. Sessions houses were also used for other purposes to do w ...

in Surbiton. However, as the number of criminal cases in southwest London grew, it became necessary to commission a more substantial courthouse for southwest London. 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 ...

in The Bittoms had been the site of a Royal palace in the 13th century, but was occupied by the Third Kingston Scout Group by the mid-20th century: it was acquired by

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council administering certain services in the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1965 the Conservative Party has ...

for redevelopment in 1966. Work on the new building started in February 1994. It was designed and built by a joint venture of HBG and Kyle Stewart in the modernist style in brick and glass with stone dressings at a cost of £18 million and was completed in 1997. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of eleven bays facing onto Penrhyn Road with the central five bays projected forward. The central bay featured a recessed full-height glass atrium with a semi-circular revolving door on the ground floor, a modern oriel window and a Royal coat of arms on the first floor and a small pediment above. Internally, the principal rooms were the courtrooms which were equipped with curtains to hide the witnesses where necessary. Notable cases heard at the court include the trial and conviction of six men, including Abu Izzadeen, Sulayman Keeler and

Abdul Rahman Saleem Abdul Rahman Saleem, (born Rahman Yahyaei) also known as Abu Yahya, is a British-Iranian Islamic activist, born around 1975. Early life and education Saleem was born in Mashhad, Iran in 1975 to a Punjabi Sunni family. He left Iran for London ...

, in 2008, on charges of supporting terrorism and the trial and conviction of

Kirk Reid Kirk Reid (born 1964 or 1965) is an English convicted rapist and serial sex offender. Early life and career Kirk Reid was raised by his mother in Battersea, London, until the age of nine, and then spent time periodically in the care syste ...

, in 2009, on 28 charges of rape and sexual assault.

References

{{Reflist Crown Court buildings Buildings and structures in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Court buildings in London Government buildings completed in 1997