The penultimate closing speech was given by Mr Shaun Dryden on behalf of John Sanderson. He opened by explaining that he was addressing them eighth of all because his client was the eighth defendant, and he’d try not to cover ground his learned friends had already covered and he apologised in advance if he did […]
The first closing speech heard today, Tuesday 25 April, was from Ms Rebecca Brown for Darren Lawton. She checked that everyone could hear and started by saying that she really liked her job. I really like my job and I know that that makes me very lucky. One of the things I like most about […]
The final closing speech yesterday, Monday 24 April, was Mr Robin Patton for the sixth defendant Niall Mellor. Mr Patton opened by saying he’d try to avoid repetition and he’d been editing lots of things out of his speech so that the jury don’t hear it for the fourth or fifth time. He told the […]
The last address the jury heard on Friday (21 April) was from Mr Andrew Rutter for Peter Bennett. He referenced Ms Richardson’s opening to her closing speech where she said that the jury may be sick of hearing her voice. I’m at the other end of that particular scale, you’ve heard very little from me, […]
Ms Anne Richardson started her closing by telling the ladies and gentlemen of the jury that they would be very relieved to know that this would probably be the last time they’d hear her voice in this trial “you’ve heard a great deal of my voice in the last few weeks”. She told the jury […]
11 April 2023 The second defendant to give evidence to the court was Matthew Banner. He told the court that he was now 43 and asked by his counsel, Mr Constantine, whether he could confirm he was a man of good character he responded “certainly am, yes”. Asked about his work experience and background before […]
The jury were brought into court today at 10:30 with HHJ Smith apologising for the slight delay in starting due to technical difficulties that a technical team were trying to solve. [The audio and picture on the remote link has been a little patchy all day, especially at the start of the morning]. HHJ Smith […]
HHJ Smith told the jury that there were a number of agreed facts, and that they are what they say on the tin, distilled from documents. He said that similar to the agreed statements from witnesses that were not in dispute between parties, and are just as much evidence as if a witness came along […]
John Sanderson The first interview of Mr Sanderson took place on 5 June 2019 in the presence of two police officer, his solicitor and an independent observer. He was a voluntary attender and the caution was explained and ascertained that he understood it. P: Whilst employed at Whorlton Hall, have you ever abused any patients […]
The trial of 9 employees of the Cygnet run ‘independent hospital’, Whorlton Hall in Barnard Castle, County Durham was opened yesterday at Teesside Crown Court. HHJ Smith introduced the jury bundle to them, before asking Ms Richardson, for the Crown, to open the case. She introduced to the jury who was in court, ending with […]