Woolwich Crown Court

rdf:langString Woolwich Crown Court

rdf:langString Woolwich Crown Court, or more accurately the Crown Court at Woolwich, is located at 2 Belmarsh Road, Thamesmead is one of twelve Crown Court centres serving Greater London. It is adjacent to both HM Prison Belmarsh and Belmarsh Magistrates' Court. Operational from 1993, it has 12 courtrooms and deals with more than 750 cases a year. Woolwich Crown Court was designed as a high-security courtroom and is now the preferred venue for terrorism trials. Formerly, terrorist cases in the London area would be heard at the Old Bailey. Improvements have been made to courtrooms 1 and 2 at the cost of £600,000 to enhance their ability to handle complex terrorism trials, particularly those involving multiple defendants. A tunnel links the court to the maximum-security HM Prison Belmarsh. This provides a secure route for bringing defendants in high-profile terrorist cases before the court. Armed police can be deployed to provide security. On 15 January 2007, Woolwich Crown Court began hearing the trial of the six men accused of attempting the 21 July 2005 London bombings on the London transport network. It was also the venue for the trials of those charged with offences from the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot and the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary in 2015.