Faulty coffee machine pipe causes major flood and delays jury trials at crown court

Jury trials at a London crown court were disrupted when a faulty pipe to a coffee machine caused major flooding .

Staff at Woolwich crown court arrived for work on Monday morning to discover that water had been pumping out of the broken pipe throughout the weekend.

Several areas of the courthouse in southeast London were affected, including the main assembly room used for jurors waiting to sit on trials.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) said new jurors had been unable to access the courthouse in southeast London, and trials had to be adjourned on Monday thanksto the disruption.

Jurors hearing ongoing trials were relocated to the smaller jury lounge in the annex at Woolwich as staff battled to save some court hearings.

It is understood cases involving allegations of rape, sexual assault, and serious violence were affected by the disruption.

The public canteen, which was also flooded along with the court’s kitchens, remained closed and cordoned off with yellow and black tape on Tuesday.

An HMCTS spokesperson said: “Flooding at Woolwich Crown Court over the weekend due to a faulty pipe resulted in some hearings being adjourned yesterday (Monday).

“All impacted cases were heard today (Tuesday) and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

The leak, understood to have originated from the back of a coffee machine, was stopped on Monday. Repair work is now underway.

Woolwich crown court is one of the UK’s most secure courthouses, with a tunnel directly to HMP Belmarsh to bring in dangerous defendants charged with terrorism.

It is home to 12 courtrooms which can hear jury trials, and was on Tuesday the venue for the sentencing hearing of hate preacher Anjem Choudary.

A temporary annex was built on the courthouse in 2011 to boost the number of hearing rooms from seven to 12, with plans at the time making it clear that the extension would only be fit for use for ten years.

But in 2021, after temporary planning permission expired on the annex, a bid was launched to keep the extension permanently.

Greenwich council ultimately approved the move, after the Ministry of Justice suggested the annex could safely continue to be used indefinitely despite being a temporary build. It also argued there was no alternative but to keep the annex because of the chronic backlog of cases in the crown courts of England and Wales.

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