Teesside Combined Court Centre

Until the early 1970s, apart from an aging courtroom in Middlesbrough Town Hall,[1] there were no dedicated court facilities suitable for criminal trials in the area.[2] This was temporarily resolved when a new law courts building (now referred to as Middlesbrough Magistrates' Court) was opened in Victoria Square in 1973.[3][4] However, as the number of court cases on Teesside grew, it became necessary to commission a courthouse with dedicated facilities for both Crown Court hearings,[5] which require courtrooms suitable for trial by jury, and for County Court hearings.[6] The site selected by the Lord Chancellor's Department had been occupied by rows of terraced houses (Elm Street, Atkinson Street and Ash Street),[7] which were cleared away in the late 1970s for a development which Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's government cancelled in 1979.[8]

The new building was designed by Napper Collerton in the Post-modernist style, built by John Laing Construction in red brick with stone dressings at a cost of £15.1 million,[9] and was completed in 1991.[10][11] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of nine bays facing onto Central Square Gardens. The central bay featured a two-storey portico formed by columns supporting a pyramid-shaped glass roof. Inside the portico there was a glass doorway on the ground floor and a Royal coat of arms at first floor level. The first and second floors were cantilevered out over the pavement and fenestrated by tall bi-partite windows split by full-height columns supporting an entablature and, in the two bays flanking the central bay, segmental pediments. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate twelve courtrooms.[12]

A statue sculpted by Graham Ibbeson, entitled "Scales of Justice", which depicted two small squabbling children being held by a women, was unveiled outside the building in 1994.[13][14]

Notable cases have included the trial and conviction of Robin Garbutt, in April 2011, for the murder of his wife, the Melsonby postmistress, Diane Garbutt.[15]

• Court information