Leicester’s Guildhall plays host to mock trial
by Kirsty Wilby | 22nd July, 2011
Last week the first court case to be heard in Leicester’s historic Guildhall for a century took place, and I was a member of the jury.
A company was charged under the Corporate Manslaughter & Homicide Act after a warehouse assistant was hit by a delivery vehicle while trying to cross an access road behind his employer’s food store.
The company was accused of being responsible because pedestrians should not have been allowed in this area.
Fortunately, the victim and the company were fictitious and the trial was a fake. No imaginary people were hurt during the making of this court case.
It was staged by our client Brett and Randall, insurance brokers in Leicester, to make directors of businesses more aware of the threat posed by the Act.
It follows the first ever Corporate Manslaughter prosecution earlier this year when Cotswold Geotechnical was fined £385,000 after an employee was killed when a trench collapsed.
The trial, enacted by lawyers from Weightmans Solicitors, allowed the audience to become the jury with in depth questioning and the examination of exhibits including company risk assessments and a detailed map of the premises.
It was a very close call but the defendants were found not guilty, and Brett and Randall warned that in a real-life case with a real-life jury, the outcome might have been very different.
For more information on the Act and how to ensure your business is covered, please visit www.brettandrandall.co.uk or email info@brettandrandall.co.uk
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