Jury service at Woolwich Crown Court

[Fodencat]

Does anyone have any experience please? What to expect etc.

If you want to know about Jury service generally you can probably find some threads with an advanced search.

Questions about Jury Service are quite often asked on here.

Of course, if it is something specific to Woolwich you want to know, that won't help.

I’ve just completed jury service at Kingston Crown Court. I was sent, well in advance, lots of information about what would happen/what I had to do etc, which was very helpful. Presumably you’ll get the same?

Thanks for both replies. Xx

I got nothing but this was years ago. Spent ages waiting around then called as juror for a case.

I did my jury service at Woolwich. Much the same as any Crown Court I should imagine in terms of what to expect (take a good book, lots of waiting, you may not be called every day), though there’s a greater likelihood of seeing a trial for terrorism-related charges as they have high-security arrangements and a tunnel for bringing defendants directly through from Belmarsh.

Oh yes, this time was utterly and completely different (and better!) then when I did it last, which was around 30 years ago. Then, just turned up and if you were selected, went into the court, swore/affirmed to tell the truth, and then the case got going. We didn’t even get given paper/pens to take any notes.

I did jury service at another SE London Crown Court in the not too distant past. Several hundred of us turned up on Monday morning and we were then told that there were two cases starting that day which were expected to last several weeks/months. If any of us had valid reasons for not being able to serve that long, we had to write them down. The officers of the court who looked after jury members and the relevant judges went through them and decided who could be exempted. Those who were still in the pool were then called up at random for those cases. The rest of us were then allocated (randomly, I suppose) to other cases. I wasn't called on Monday and we were told not to come in on Tuesday unless we were contacted. I then got a message to come in on the Wednesday. I was allocated to a case which lasted till the following Thursday. When we finished, the court officer told us we could go as we wouldn't be needed again. However, there was a case starting that afternoon or the next day which still needed a jury member and she offered us the chance to do that too. One of our number jumped at it so he could put off his return to work for another few days.

Don't know if that's how all the Crown Courts work. As others have said, be prepared for a fair amount of sitting around. The trials don't always start promptly in the morning if the judge has to do something else first or there's a delay bringing the defendant in from prison, as happened in our case more than once. Also, assuming all the courts are like this, the security checks to get into the court building take ages. It's like airport security checks but even more so. So allow time for that.