Hilton Hotel in York to be transformed into emergency 'Nightingale' court to clear backlog

A Hilton Hotel in York has been commandeered as an emergency 'Nightingale' court to clear a backlog of criminal cases.
York city centreYork city centre
York city centre

Unheard cases have piled up since lockdown was announced, despite court sessions returning in the summer.

The Hilton in York will open as a court on September 28, along with The Lowry in Salford, near Manchester, and Jury's Inn in Middlesbrough.

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Cloth Hall Court in Leeds, a conference and events venue which is owned by the University of Leeds, is already being used for civil cases and property disputes, but not criminal trials.

It comes as the director of public prosecutions Max Hill warned delays in cases coming to court are 'corrosive' as they force victims to wait for justice.

He suggested carrying out more remote hearings could be part of the answer to tackling the growing backlog as it emerged some courts are currently listing trials for 2023.

Courts in England and Wales are grappling with a waiting list of around half a million cases after courts being forced to shut during lockdown added to existing delays.

The hotel in York will also hear family cases.

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It brings the total number of Nightingale courts to 17, providing 32 court rooms, the MoJ said, with the existing sites operating at 80 per cent capacity, which is higher than the average court prior to the pandemic.

Magistrates’ courts are now dealing with some 21,000 cases a week while Crown courts are clearing more than 1,700 cases at the same time and holding more than 100 jury trials.

Since the beginning of August, an extra 1,000 cases have been heard with extended sittings on Saturdays. Hull Crown Court is testing out longer sitting hours, with more expected to follow.

Plastic screens are being installed in 300 court rooms and rooms used for jury deliberations, allowing 250 crown courts to re-open for trials, which the MoJ said is more than were operating before the pandemic.