Minshull Street Crown Court Explained

Type:Law courts
Coordinates:53.4786°N -2.2349°W
Location:Manchester, England
Area:Manchester City Centre
Built:1868–71
Architect:Thomas Worthington
Architecture:Gothic Revival style
Governing Body:Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom)
Designation1:Grade II* listed building
Designation1 Offname:City Police Courts
Designation1 Date:2 October 1974
Designation1 Number:1219894

Minshull Street Crown Court is a complex of court buildings on Minshull Street in Manchester, England. The court was designated a Grade II* listed building on 2 October 1974. It is one of two Crown Courts in Manchester, the other being Manchester Crown Court (Crown Square).[1]

History

The foundation stone for the building was laid by the mayor on 10 July 1868.[2] The building was designed by the architect Thomas Worthington and was completed in December 1871.[2] [3]

The building is in Worthington's trademark Gothic Revival style, with a massive corner tower and a chimney stack styled as a campanile. The courts are constructed in red brick with sandstone dressings and steeply-pitched slate roofs. There is a profusion of animal carving by Earp and Hobbs. Worthington drew both on his rejected designs for Manchester Town Hall, and on his earlier plans for Ellen Wilkinson High School, although the central tower he used there is placed asymmetrically at the Police Courts, due to the constraints of the site. The interior court rooms "have been preserved with relatively few alterations."

Following the completion of new Courts of Justice in Crown Square in May 1961, the Lord Chancellor's Department decided to close the Minshull Street building in 1989,[4] but as the volume of cases increased in the early 1990s, the Department decided to re-open the Minshull Street building again to support the Courts of Justice in Crown Square.[1] Between 1993 and 1996, the Minshull Street buildings were extensively modernised. The original courtyard was glazed over and an extension was added to the Aytoun Street side of the courts. The architect for these works was James Stevenson of the Hurd Rolland Partnership. Internally, the modernised complex at Minshull Street was laid out to accommodate 12 courts.[5]

Notable cases include the conviction of the gambler, Ming Jiang, in February 2023, for the murder of his gambling companion, Yang Liu, whose headless body was found on a country lane.[6] [7] [8]

See also

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Why does Manchester have two Crown Courts? . Burton Copeland . 18 August 2023.
  2. Web site: City Police and Sessions Courts Minshull Street, Manchester. The Manchester Group of the Victorian Society. 23 January 2023.
  3. Book: Glinert, Ed . The Manchester Compendium: A Street-by-Street History of England's Greatest Industrial City. 2008. 978-0141029306.
  4. Web site: Law Courts and Courtrooms 1: The Buildings of the Criminal Law. Historic England. 1 August 2016. 16. 23 January 2023.
  5. Web site: Manchester Minshull Street. Ministry of Justice. 23 January 2023.
  6. News: Headless body murder trial at Manchester Crown Court. 3 April 2017. ITV. 23 January 2023.
  7. News: A man who murdered his gambling pal has been ordered to pay back the money he stole. But he's refusing to co-operate.. 11 September 2017. Manchester Evening News. 23 January 2023.
  8. News: Body-in-suitcase trial: Gambler jailed for murdering friend. 2 May 2017. BBC. 23 January 2023.