The points about the cigars and the 'killer on the run' ARE COMPLETE RUBBISH.

INDEX : THE OLD BAILEY

ES magazine , 12^th July , 1996.

By John Hind.

The first Old Bailey was built in 1539 ( as a sessions house adjoining Newgate Prison ), but the world famous baroque building was constructed in 1907 for £392,277. The Corporation of London is currently planning £20 million of judicious renovations.

ES takes a calculator to the Central Criminal Court

 

·         Days the beaks sit each year : 230.

·         Square cms of gold leaf on the Lady of Justice : 218,750.

·         Years since the last public hanging on site : 128.

·         Cases tried per average week : 70.

·         Most cases halted in a year due to attempted jury/witness nobbling : 13.

·         Longest jail sentence ever passed : 42 years.

·         Cost to the nation per hour if you turn up late for jury service : £1,500.

·         Years since the first female presided as a judge : 24.

·         People entering the complex in a year : 850,000.

·         Times the Old Bailey has sat on a Saturday : 4.

·         Years since shorthand writers in Court 17 requested a ‘ modesty panel ‘ to stop barristers looking up their skirts : 7.

·         Money buried in the time capsule under the foundation stone : £2,1s,4d.

·         Least value of property for which a person has been prosecuted for stealing heard in Court No.1 in the 1990s : 20p.

·         Most cigars ever stolen from a judge’s supply room in the Sheriffs’ corridor : 2,000.

·         Weight of each Bailey gate at the Warwick Street entrance : 25cwt.

·         Years since the last female prosecuted under the Witchcraft Act : 52.

·         Fine received for painting ‘ George Davis is innocent ‘ on the Old Bailey walls : £180.

·         Number of electronically controlled doors the post-boys have to pass through : 42.

·         Killers on the run known to have worked as Old Bailey security guards : 1.