Jury service - Day 3

Chaos this morning as I tried to make my way to court. A fire alert on the Central line rendered my route to court unusable, and left me with a succession of busses as my only alternative. Fortunately, anyone coming to court by public means is in the same predicament, so my barely late arrival was matched by almost half the jurors, and probable an equal number of court officials, defendants, witnesses and the like. Nothing like thinking you're going to be fined for contempt of court to crank up the anxiety, though.

We were finally led into court at midday, only to discover that, instead of winding up, the Crown was proceeding to call a further witness. After a break for lunch, we finally heard the Crown close their case, and then a surprise; the Defence called their Defendant. This only happens in about half of all Crown court trials in the UK, as the Defendant is not required to present any defence at all; it is the Crown's responsibilty to make their case. Having the Defence call their Defendant immediately adds days to the trial, as this will open the floodgates to all sorts of character and eye witnesses for the Defence, and all the concommittant cross questing by the Crown. No early result here, I'm afraid.