Students put in dock at Hereford Magistrates' Court to defend their legal knowledge (From Hereford Times)

Students put in dock at Hereford Magistrates' Court to defend their legal knowledge

8:00am Monday 22nd March 2010 in

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STUDENTS were given a brief of their own at Hereford Magistrates’ Court during a mock trial competition.

Year eight and nine pupils from local high schools were left to get on with the proceedings in a contest organised by the Citizenship Foundation and the Magistrates’ Association.

Teams witnessed a real trial before taking to the stand themselves in a variety of roles from magistrates and lawyers to court staff and defendants.

Real magistrates and legal professionals were then brought in to judge their performances before a prize-giving ceremony took place at the Shire Hall in the company of Hereford Mayor Councillor Sylvia Daniels, His Honour Judge Toby Hooper QC and the chairman of the Herefordshire magistrates’ bench, Helen Barker JP.

Among those who took part were Bishop of Hereford’s Bluecoat School and the Hereford Academy, which finished in second place just behind the Dene Magna Community School from Mitcheldean.

The Hereford Academy also won the Prosecution Lawyers Shield and the Defence Lawyers Shield but it is the Forest of Dean team who will now compete in the regional finals in Cardiff this May.