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St George’s Hall: Great symbol of a city of contrasts

Jan 16 2008 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

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St George's Hall on Culture launch night

Courtroom gloom

EVEN after a detailed restoration, No 1 Crown Court, at the south end of St George’s Hall, has a formidably gloomy atmosphere.

This was Liverpool's only criminal court until 1984, when criminal proceedings moved to the new Queen Elizabeth II law courts.

Almost a quarter of a century later, the walls of this court room still seem to emanate the unhappiness and misery they absorbed over the previous 130 years.

Of all the famous trials heard in this court, the case that still intrigues today is the story of Florence Maybrick, in 1889, tried for murdering her husband.

Found guilty of murder and sentenced to death, she was reprieved at the last moment and instead served 15 years’ imprisonment.