How do I find out the outcome of a criminal trial?

[Annanentity]

My local paper publishers the outcome of hearings that take place in the magistrates' court in a list but it only seems to publish accounts of a few high profile trials that take place in the Crown Court. I am trying to find out the outcome/circumstances of a case that happened a couple of weeks ago. It has apparently been featured in a local paper though I have tried unsuccessfully to search for it.

Does anyone know of a legal resource I can use to look it up. I'm assuming that the outcomes of most criminal trials are in the public domain but not sure where to start my search.

Could any legal experts on here help please?

they aren't available. court takes place in public and the reporters are there so that proceedings can be on public record. however the courts do not issue a list of court results and the court would not disclose results to you.

if you are a witnessor victim in the case the police witness care unit that dealt with the case would update you but otherwise not.

so basically unless it's been reported or you were in court or directly involved in the case then no

The court absolutely should disclose the result of a case to you. Thankfully, we still have open justice and the outcomes of criminal trials are a matter of public record. You could try phoning the listings office of the crown court where the case was heard. In practise, it's often difficult to get them to co-operate but they are obliged to tell you the outcome, whatever they might claim about data protection, privacy etc etc. That's how I find out the results of trials I could not attend.

However, a much better and simpler bet would be to ring the local paper, ask to speak to the newsdesk and and tell them the info you need. Most reporters would be happy to flick through the paper if you can tell them when the trial happened to let you know the outcome. We get requests like this all the time and we're happy to help.

There are also several resources online that have a limited selection of cases you can search for. One is www.thelawpages.com