Old Bailey to be refurbished

The refit will give better protection for witnesses

The Old Bailey has begun a £5.4m refit to provide better facilities for court users.

The major modernisation will give better protection for vulnerable witnesses and jurors.

It is also designed to improve the all-round working of the Central Criminal Court, said the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

The court will be closed entirely from 4 August until September, relocating its sittings and administration to other Crown Courts in London.

A new witness suite will be built so witnesses will be able to wait in these rooms away from other court users while preparing to give evidence.

The suite will include 10 rooms from which witnesses can give evidence via live video to any of the 18 courtrooms so that young and vulnerable or intimidated witnesses can be segregated if needed.

Jury nobbling

The existing rooms for jurors will be refurbished, extended and equipped with a security entry system to reduce risk of jury nobbling.

Each courtroom will be equipped with video technology so that defendants in custody will be able to "appear" in the courtrooms for preliminary hearings by video link from the prison.

It is hoped this will cut down on the need to ferry prisoners to and from jail thereby freeing up police and prison service resources.

It also reduces the risk of escape as prisoners are transported between prison and court.

New technology will also allow the courts to exchange information about cases on a secure network to help improve communication.