Bradford Law Courts

Until the early 1990s, Crown Court cases in Bradford were heard in the Bradford City Hall, or if a long sentence was likely to be given, in Leeds Town Hall.{{cite news|url=https://northernlifemagazine.co.uk/yorkshire-ripper/|title=The Yorkshire Ripper and Me|newspaper=Northern Life Magazine|date=15 December 2016|access-date=28 January 2023}} However, as the number of court cases in Bradford grew, it became necessary to commission a more modern courthouse for criminal matters: the site selected had been occupied by the Bradford Exchange railway station which had been demolished in 1976.{{cite news |last1=Thomas |first1=Rhys |title=Then and now: The forgotten city centre station from Bradford's rail heyday |url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/14833607.then-and-now-the-forgotten-city-centre-station-from-bradfords-rail-heyday/ |work=Bradford Telegraph and Argus |date=31 October 2016|access-date=28 January 2023}}{{cite book |last1=Body |first1=Geoffrey |title=Railways of the Eastern Region |date=1989 |publisher=Patrick Stephens |location=Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England |isbn=978-1852600723|page=48}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I4QmEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT230|title=Railways of the West Riding of Yorkshire|first= Bernard|last=Warr|year=2021|publisher=Crowood Press|isbn=978-1785008474}}

The new building was designed by Napper Collerton in the Modernist style, built by John Laing Construction in yellow stone at a cost of £18.9 million,{{cite web|url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1996-01-26/debates/24326606-27f4-4596-af08-e5c5019ec7e6/CapitalBuildingProgramme|title=Capital Building Programme|date=26 January 1996|publisher=Hansard|access-date=12 March 2023}} and was completed in 1993.{{cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/iha-buildings-criminal-law/heag140-criminal-courts-iha/|page=16|title=Law Courts and Courtrooms 1: The Buildings of the Criminal Law|publisher=Historic England|date=1 August 2016|access-date=28 January 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.napperarchitects.co.uk/bradford-law-courts/|title=Bradford Law Courts|publisher=Napper Architects| access-date=28 January 2023}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jUi8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT135|title=The Democratic Courthouse: A Modern History of Design, Due Process and Dignity|first1= Linda|last1= Mulcahy|first2= Emma|last2= Rowden|year=2019|publisher=Taylor and Francis|isbn=978-0429558689}} The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of 15 bays facing onto Exchange Square. The central bay featured a revolving door on the ground floor with a curved stone section on the first and second floors, displaying a Royal coat of arms on the first floor and fenestrated by a five-part casement window on the second floor. The wings, of seven bays each, featured sections on the second floor, which were stone-faced and cantilevered out over the pavement. The second floor was fenestrated by tall rectangular windows except for the bays flanking the central bay, which were fenestrated by seven-part oriel windows. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate eleven courtrooms.{{cite web|url=http://xhibit.justice.gov.uk/bradford.htm|title=Bradford|publisher=Ministry of Justice| access-date=28 January 2023}} The architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner, described the design as "expensive-looking and facetiously detailed".{{cite news|url=https://c20society.org.uk/news/bradford-spotlight-modern-heritage-in-the-new-uk-city-of-culture|title=Bradford spotlight: Modern heritage in the new UK City of Culture|date=1 June 2022|publisher=20th Century Society|access-date=28 January 2023}}

Notable cases have included the trial and conviction, in November 2007, of Ronald Castree for the murder of Lesley Molseed, some 31 years after the trial and wrongful conviction of Stefan Kiszko at Leeds Crown Court in July 1976.{{cite news |url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/7086361.stm |title = Man guilty of 1975 child murder |publisher = BBC News |date = 12 November 2007| access-date=28 January 2023}}{{cite news|url=https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/1335/lesley-molseed-murderer-sentenced-to-minimum-30-years|title=Lesley Molseed murderer sentenced to minimum 30 years|date=12 November 2007|newspaper=Rochdale Online| access-date=28 January 2023}} They have also included the trial and conviction of eleven men in December 2015, on charges in connection with the Keighley child sex abuse ring,{{cite news | url = http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/crime/11-men-guilty-of-sexually-abusing-white-schoolgirl-in-keighley-1-7633460 | title = 11 men guilty of sexually abusing white schoolgirl in Keighley | work = The Yorkshire Post | date=18 December 2015 |access-date=28 January 2023}} and the trial and conviction, in December 2021, of Savannah Brockhill for the murder of Star Hobson.{{Cite news|date=14 December 2021|title=Star Hobson: Savannah Brockhill guilty of murder|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-59637683|access-date=28 January 2023}}

In 2017, filming took place at Bradford Law Courts for a court scene in the television drama, The Moorside, which was a dramatisation of the kidnapping of Shannon Matthews.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5574262/locations|title=The Moorside|publisher=IMDB| access-date=28 January 2023}}{{cite news|url=https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/14388421.filming-crews-descend-on-bradford-to-shoot-scenes-for-upcoming-bbc-docu-drama-the-moorside-project/|title=Filming crews descend on Bradford to shoot scenes for upcoming BBC docu-drama The Moorside Project|date=29 March 2016|newspaper=The Telegraph and Argus| access-date=28 January 2023}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.find-court-tribunal.service.gov.uk/courts/bradford-combined-court-centre Court information]

Category:Buildings and structures in Bradford

Category:Crown Court buildings

Category:Government buildings completed in 1993

Category:Court buildings in England