Westminster Magistrates' Court is 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 ...

at 181

Marylebone Road Marylebone Road ( ) is an important thoroughfare in central London, within the City of Westminster. It runs east–west from the Euston Road at Regent's Park to the A40 Westway at Paddington. The road which runs in three lanes in both direction ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The Chief Magistrate of England and Wales, who is the Senior District Judge of

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

, sits at the court, and all

extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdict ...

and

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

-related cases pass through it. The court opened on 22 September 2011 as a replacement for the

City of Westminster Magistrates' Court The City of Westminster Magistrates' Court was a magistrates' court located at 70 Horseferry Road, in the City of Westminster, London. It was originally called Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court, after the road in which it was sited.Her Majesty's ...

Notable case

In February 2014 the court heard a case in which a former member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church) launched a rare

private prosecution A private prosecution is a criminal law, criminal proceeding initiated by an individual private citizen or private organisation (such as a prosecution association) instead of by a public prosecutor who represents the State (polity), state. Private p ...

bid with the court, which issued a

summons A summons (also known in England and Wales as a claim form and in the Australian state of New South Wales as a court attendance notice (CAN)) is a legal document issued by a court (a ''judicial summons'') or by an administrative agency of governme ...

Thomas S. Monson Thomas Spencer Monson (August 21, 1927 – January 2, 2018) was an American religious leader, author, and the 16th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). As president, he was considered by adherents of the re ...

(the then leader of the LDS Church) to answer claims under the 2006 Fraud Act. A church spokesperson characterised the allegations as bizarre, later stating that Monson has no intention of appearing in person at the 14 March hearing. Experts consulted by the press found it highly unlikely that Monson would be extradited from the United States. A former crown prosecutor stated: "I think the British courts will recoil in horror. This is just using the law to make a show, an anti-Mormon point. And I'm frankly shocked that a magistrate has issued it." The person lodging the complaint is the managing editor of "a website highly critical of the church."

John Dehlin John Parkinson Dehlin is an American podcast host and excommunicated member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He holds a PhD in psychology. Dehlin founded the Mormon Stories Podcast, as well as several other Mor ...

stated he believed publicity to be the plaintiff's goal, and that it worked, based on the 800,000

page view In web analytics and website management, a pageview or page view, abbreviated in business to PV and occasionally called page impression, is a request to load a single HTML file ( web page) of an Internet site. On the World Wide Web, a page request ...

s to the plaintiff's website on 4 February, a record for that site. Monson did not appear at the 14 March hearing, but instead was represented by legal counsel, who contested the summons. On 20 March 2014, Judge Howard Riddle, chief magistrate in Westminster Magistrates' Court, ruled that the case was "an abuse of the process of the court" and that "the court is being manipulated to provide a high-profile forum to attack the religious beliefs of others".

References

{{Coord, 51.5207, -0.1644, type:landmark_region:GB-WSM, display=title Court buildings in London Buildings and structures in the City of Westminster Magistrates' courts in England and Wales