Crown Court

- Season 6

(1977)

Dr. William Ranford and John Meetham are accused of responsibility for illegal experiments on animals by their cosmetics company. The prosecution has been brought by an animals rights organisation that says the experiments were cruel and unnecessary; the defendants say their actions were justified and required for international sales

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Ralph Gibbs was working as a stock-man and living in a tied cottage until he was sacked and evicted by farm manager Robert Aldrich. Gibbs says he and his pregnant wife were harassed and victimised by Aldrich who now stands accused in court of such offences. Gibbs says he was targeted because of his union activities. However Aldrich protests his innocence and says the accusations are false - Gibbs was a trouble-maker who neglected his work and has invented the claims as part of a wider campaign against the use of tied cottages.

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Unemployed plasterer Frank Hanlon stands accused of burgling at night a shop called The Jewel Box and stealing a watch and a ring. He was arrested in the company of a young woman with whom he was having an affair - Marion King - and found to be in possession of identical items to those stolen and a screwdriver which the Prosecution claim he used to force open the door. Hanlon denies the charge. He says he did not break into the shop or steal the items - he had bought them from a peddler and had used the screwdriver for repairs at his mother's home. His mother backs ...

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Faith healer Peter Croft is seeking damages for libel against Harry McDonald. In a radio interview McDonald described Croft as a fraud who exploited patients. McDonald's wife had consulted Croft after being paralyzed - it seemed permanently - following a riding accident. The defendant says that Croft promised a miracle cure but it was soon evident this would not occur and a deeply depressed Mrs. McDonald then killed herself with an overdose of pills. McDonald and his defence team argue that Croft - whose main work is as an antiques dealer - has no training or ability ...

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Jasper Fortesque and Sir Harold Dupuis have been at odds for years. However matters escalated dramatically when Sir Harold objected to a letter about the future of Gibraltar from Fortesque and when to his home to confront him - this confrontation ended with Sir Harold suffering stab wounds from Fortesque's dagger. Fortesque faces a charge of GBH but insists Sir Harold was wounded by accident. Lady Dupuis witnessed events and plays a curious role in the relationship between the two men.

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This unusual trial centres on an alleged assault in the courtroom at the end of another case. Harold Phillips is accused of striking his wife at the close of a trial where her new partner, barrister Jeremy Halstead, had been prosecuting. The prosecution he struck her in anger. Phillips does not deny that he was annoyed at the break-up of his marriage and that he wanted to speak to Halstead. However he insists his wife ran towards him and collided with him by accident. The defendant decides to take over from his own counsel and the case reveals a tale of open ...

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Petra Clennell is accused of wounding her husband Alan with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. She stabbed him with a pair of scissors after he returned home late one night. Mr. Clennell admits to a history of alcoholism and tension with his wife but insists he is now cured and that he did nothing to provoke her actions. However his wife and the defence argue he remains an alcoholic and assert that she only stabbed him in self-defence.

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Ronald Crosby faces accusations that he deceived investors about the current state of his companies in order to fraudulently drive up share prices for his own profit. These companies later collapsed and Crosby left the country meaning he couldn't be arrested until being induced home in the belief his house had attracted a buyer. Witnesses tell of his charm and abilities as a raconteur. The prosecution insist that this charm was used for dishonest purposes; Crosby retorts that he has been a victim of the recession and his assets have also been wiped out by blackmail ...

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Researcher Francis Galway faces the rare charge of inciting the police to disaffection, specifically towards strike action. He had been working for a right-wing pressure group who were campaigning against what they saw as "threats to democracy". The prosecution allege that Galway tried to fabricate evidence of subversion by a left-wing workers group and invited a police inspector to a meeting of fascists in Italy. Galway and his defence team say that his actions have been misunderstood. They deny he had any intent to encourage disaffection and that his motives have ...

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Eighteen year old Navlika Patel and her younger brother Dinesh run a market stall and are accused of offences connected to a dispute with fellow market trader Henry Pegg. The prosecution allege that Dinesh stole a roll of cotton from Mr. Pegg's stall. Mr. Pegg then went to recover the roll from the Patels and in the process was stabbed with a pair of scissors in the stomach and wounded by Navlika. Both the defendants say they are innocent. Dinesh insists he did not steal the cotton; his sister admits wounding Mr. Pegg but says it was an accident in the struggle as he ...

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Gerald Peck is a self-confessed former drug addict with a number of previous drugs convictions. He is now accused of possession and dealing of drugs in connection with his role as manager of the Mandala Club. Police claim that Peck allowed the club to become a centre for drug use and dealing and that he was found with drugs in his office drawer. Peck does not deny that drugs were found in his office but says they were confiscated from a customer. He admits that he thinks soft drugs should be legalised but insists he does not condone drug use because of the legal ...

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Clifford Grant stands accused of various macabre offences including desecration of corpses and church property and making threats to the church's vicar and a detective investigating his case. He does not deny that he is a follower of witchcraft but insists he is only concerned with doing good and has no interest in black magic, Satanism or depraved rituals as the prosecution allege.

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Three packing operatives - Rhoda Benson, Avril Bullen and Freda Miller - face charges of actual bodily harm and indecent assault against electrician David Moston. He claims that he was tricked into attending their party at work and then they held him down, gave him love-bites, marked his shirt and stomach with lipstick and poured a drink on his groin. All the women proclaim their innocence. Benson and Bullen admit they had light-hearted physical contact with him but that he was a very willing partner; Miller says she took no part at all. The Defence claim that Mr. ...

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Four year old Leonie Klein was seriously injured after falling from a fire escape at the home of unregistered child-minder Sylvia Kelly. Mrs. Kelly is now on trial accused of ill-treating and neglecting Leonie. The prosecution argue that Mrs. Kelly was trying to look after six children and was unable to properly care for Leonie. They allege that she was annoyed with her and sent her out onto the balcony even though she knew it was unsafe. Mrs. Kelly denies the charges. She says she was properly caring for Leonie who got on to the balcony unexpectedly, her fall being a...

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Barbara Truscott, whose husband is a solicitor and aspiring politician, is accused of the theft of a tin of salmon from a supermarket. There is no question that Mrs. Truscott took the salmon but the case hinges on whether she intended to do so. The prosecution assert that she did and the only reason she has pleaded not guilty is because her husband has told her to. The defence case is that Mrs. Truscott is a troubled woman who was confused on the day because of the medication she was taking - she did not know what she was doing.

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Billy Baker faces two charges of wounding with intent against Jimmy Witt. The Prosecution allege that Baker slashed Witt's face with a razor and later arranged for the squat he was living in to be demolished while he was still living there leaving him with a broken leg. Witt claims that these attacks were part of a remorseless campaign of bullying by Baker. At the start of the trial Baker dismisses his counsel and defends himself. He does not deny a long criminal record but insists he is a friend of Witt and has been falsely accused. He asserts that Witt cut his own ...

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Arthur Barnard is warden of a hostel for homeless women. John Wragg and Richard Livesey wrote a letter and issued leaflets alleging that Barnard sexually harassed Mr. Wragg's wife who was staying at the hostel and that he generally managed the hostel in an unpleasant way with the aim of forcing residents to leave. They also claimed that magistrate Lady Corrie Stott failed to properly oversee Barnard's performance and acted in a biased manner. Barnard and Lady Stott are now suing Wragg and Livesey for libel, arguing that all the allegations are false.

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Olive Hope stands accused of harassing her tenant and next-door neighbour Audrey Taylor. The Prosecution allege that the two women fell out and then Mrs. Hope tried to drive out Mrs. Taylor by playing loud music at night, banging on the walls, asking her to leave at short notice, burning down her shed and even staging a burglary in which Mrs. Taylor's house was ransacked. The Defence case is that Mrs. Taylor has imagined the attacks due to a recurrence of serious mental illness and that she has been extremely well-treated by a compassionate Mrs. Hope.

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Paul Adams is accused of the murder of Cyril Hubbard who was stabbed during a mugging. The Defence do not deny that Adams and various witnesses were involved in street robberies. However they argue that the victim was stabbed accidentally in a struggle. They suggest that bringing a knife was the idea of Vinny White. The Prosecution assert though that Adams was too intelligent and confident to be led by White, that he wielded the knife quite deliberately and is simply trying to deflect responsibility for his offence.

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In a bizarre and protracted case Cosmic Planning Consultants are suing the Rosenberg Research Foundation for libel. The latter accused the former of irresponsibility in building an old people's home at the top of a Himalayan mountain with the toilets sited three thousand feet below. The plaintiffs insist their unusual choice of location was the right one and they have been unfairly maligned.

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