Trouble at Court

Recent stories that plans to build new Magistrates Courts in Salisbury have been abandoned were branded "wrong and irresponsible" by Salisbury MP Robert Key.

Robert Key said, "We have battled for years to keep the Magistrates' Courts in Salisbury and the Lord Chancellor's Department knows we need new courts here after the lease expires on the Guildhall. The fact is the plans for new temporary courts on the Wilton Road site have been criticised - and it is right that the Magistrates' Courts Committee should seek to meet the concerns of the objectors. That is exactly what is happening and modified plans will be laid in due course."

Meanwhile Robert Key warned of a more serious threat to the administration of justice in Salisbury. "On 1st October the European Convention on Human Rights will become operative in British Law. That could mean it would no longer be legal to take remand prisoners into court at the Guildhall because their right to privacy would be compromised as they walked from the security vehicle to the court door in full view of the public. Some people may feel this is pushing political correctness a step too far. No doubt a compromise can be reached. The alternative might have to be a journey to a court elsewhere in Wiltshire".

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