Kent’s first makeshift courtroom was locked up just an hour after opening - following “administrative issues.”

The Nightingale courthouse, based at the Mercure Maidstone Great Danes Hotel, today swung open its doors to help combat mounting caseloads.

But Judge David Griffith-Jones QC adjourned today's trial just minutes after the jury was sworn in.

He told the jury “administrative issues” triggered delays after hearing a courier failed to show with jury bundles, defence evidence had not been properly prepared and a prosecutor was taken unwell.

Griffith-Jones QC told the courtroom, held inside the Hollingbourne hotel’s conference centre, he was “beside myself” before adjourning the case until tomorrow morning.

“This would make me mad if we were in our ordinary location, to be told so many things are outstanding, even the jury bundle hasn’t got to the court yet,” he told lawyers

“On day one, when we open our Nightingale Court, why isn’t the jury bundle here?”

Read more: Why are there so many delays in the court system?

The four-star hotel is Kent’s first pop-up court, with HM Courts and Tribunals Service having rolled out about 30 nationwide.

It comes as the backlog of crown court cases in England and Wales is believed to be around 58,000, with hearings set to take place as far away as 2023 denying justice to victims, witnesses and defendants, many of whom have been held on remand in harsher conditions since the pandemic.

Outside, the front of the Mercure looks no different with guests entering and leaving the reception area and fitness suite.

But inside, a section of the lobby is transformed into a fully-fledged metal detection security gate, where three guards search people’s bags and belongings for banned items with piano jazz music playing over the hotel tannoy.

Once through the gates court users are ushered into a large conference hall not dissimilar in size to many courtrooms, equipped with state-of-the-art IT, television and audio technology.

The judge and clerk sit behind a makeshift bench – basically desks pushed together – and decorating the wall behind them sits a large emblem of the crown crest.

Jurors, 12 in total, sit on one side of the room with separate desks safely spaced two meters apart wearing Covid masks.

Official Ministry of Justice signs pepper the room reminding people to keep in mind Covid rules and an electronic hand sanitizer dispenser sits outside in the corridor.

Counsels’ desks are laid out in the centre whereas the other half of the court is reserved for auxiliary users - police, Crown Prosecution Service, press for example.

It does, on the whole, resemble a real courtroom with only one truly remarkable difference.

A defendant no longer sits inside the dock of a courtroom but at the back on their own desk, a setup similar to some Scandanavian courts.

Discharging the jury Judge Griffith-Jones QC said: “A particular thank you for finding your way to the Mercure hotel, out first Nightingale court.

“I said this was an auspicious day today, it is our first day here so we are all contributing to a little bit of history, so please bear with us as we find our way.”

The nearest Nightingale court is in Chichester to serve the courts in Lewes.

In March 2020, almost half of all courts were closed and jury trials were paused to minimise social interaction between court users to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

Measures were put in place to safely resume jury trials in May 2020, and in July the Lord Chancellor announced the opening of the first 10 Nightingale courts.

To read more of our in depth coverage of all of the major trials coming out of crown and magistrates' courts across the county, click here.

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