Late night legal history

The court will open on Friday and Saturday nights

A late night opening of court on Friday has set a legal precedent in England and Wales.

The landmark evening session at Bow Street Magistrates' Court in London aims to speed up the legal backlog from weekend crime.

The court is open for normal duty from 1800 GMT until midnight and will do so every Friday and Saturday for the next four months as part of a pilot scheme.

A second pilot scheme in Manchester saw courts open at 0900 BST instead of 1000 BST last Tuesday.

The experiment aims to offer swifter justice for victims of crime after the legal process came in for criticism for being slow.

It is hoped it will give people faster access to the courts

Michael Burrell, Lord Chancellor's Department

The scheme will take pressure off courts during the week and cut down waiting times of those held in legal custody before facing the courts.

If the pilot is successful the extended opening hours will be introduced across the country.

A drunk man who had been held on Friday morning by police was among those to come before Bow Street court during its new opening hours.

Solicitor Richard Hallam was in court and told the BBC he is sceptical about the likely impact this scheme will have on speeding up the justice system.

He nonetheless believes that it is worth testing, and he said: "It is very like a normal duty court. We are certainly not meeting people who were on the streets this afternoon". "I think we have to give a government credit for trying new things and it is a pilot and we will see what the results are.

"My instinct is that this will not make a great deal of difference to anything."

Tests are being conducted in London and Manchester

The scheme is partly modelled on New York, where the famous Zero Tolerance policy saw a dramatic fall in street crime.

Michael Burrell, of the Lord Chancellor's Department, said: "While courts have sometimes run on into the evening, this is the first time they will be scheduled to do so.

"It is hoped it will give people faster access to the courts, especially for victims and witnesses who will not have to take so much time off work."

Twice-weekly evening sessions between 1600 BST and 2000 BST are expected to begin there next week.