Divisional Police Headquarters, Newcastle upon Tyne
| Date | 01 July 1965 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X6503800711 |
| Published date | 01 July 1965 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
serious charge
but
guilty to a lesser charge, the Judge should allow
the plea of guilty to stand; the accused will be
put
in charge of the
jury
only on the serious charge and, if he is acquitted of that, then he
can
be sentenced on the lesser charge to which he has pleaded guilty.
If
he is convicted on the serious charge, the proper course is to allow
the lesser charge on which he has pleaded guilty to remain on the file
and
not
to proceed to sentence him. This guidance was by the
Court
of Criminal Appeal in R. v. Cole [1964] 2 All E.R. 29, which, in-
cidentally, is a rare instance of a
jury
convicting at a third trial after
two abortive trials.
The
appellant was charged on an indictment containing three
counts, the first conspiracy to rob, the second
of
armed robbery,
and
the third
of
receiving
part
of
the proceeds of the robbery. He pleaded
not guilty to the first
and
second counts
but
guilty to the third
count. The trial Judge ruled
that
the appellant should stand his
trial for armed robbery
and
the proper course to enable this to be
done was to decline to accept the plea
of
guilty. A plea of not guilty
was entered. At the trial the
jury
disagreed
and
on a re-trial, which
also proved abortive, the trial Judge refused to allow the appellant
to plead again in order to plead guilty to the third count. At the
third trial the Judge ordered the third
count
to be severed from the
indictment. This time the jury convicted on the second count
and
the appeal was dismissed.
It
was explained
that
the trial Judge has a
discretion to refuse to accept a plea of guilty to the lesser charge.
If
it
is recorded it does
not
rank
as a conviction at all,
but
only ranks as a
conviction when the offender is in fact sentenced.
Police
Buildin~
DIVISIONAL
POLICE
HEADQUARTERS, NEWCASTLE
UPON
TYNE
The new divisional police headquarters in Westgate Rd., Newcastle upon Tyne,
was opened on May 4, by Alderman P. H. Renwick, J.P., chairman of the watch
committee. The site of the new headquarters, which accommodates 191 police
personnel and provides the headquarters for the Newcastle branch of No. 2
Regional Crime Squad which came into operation on April I, last, was previously
occupied by buildings serving both the fire service and the police.
The ground floor of the building occupies an area 219
ft.
long by 58
ft.
wide;
the central block, containing offices,is square in plan, having a dimension of
62ft.
6ins. and rises to three further floors above the ground level single storey struc-
tures on either side. To the east at ground floor level is disposed the cell block,
charge room, surgeon's and attendant's offices,and to the west of the central block,
disposed around two sides of the transport yard, space is provided for the garaging
of six cars, car maintenance workshop bay, motor-cycle store, cycle rack and
kennels.
The main entrance, centrally disposed in the facade, affords direct approach by
the public to the inquiry counter and ready access to three interview rooms off
the waiting hall. The remainder of the ground floor is given over to operational
rooms grouped according to their r.espectivefunctions. The parade room, which
also has independent access from the transport yard, is 37
ft.
6ins. long by 17
ft.
wide, and is also intended for lecture purposes. Toilets, showers and uniform
drying facilities are also provided on this floor.
335 July 1965
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