JUSTICE will be served in Dunfermline's ODEON cinema as it becomes a jury centre.

Courts at Falkirk, Kirkcaldy and Perth will re-start jury trials at the Fife Leisure Park venue next month.

Although a date in February has not been set for the move, it completes the re-start of jury trials in every Sheriffdom in Scotland.

The announcement was made yesterday (Wednesday) by the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service.

David Fraser, executive director of court operations, said: "We recognise the concern and impact on the accused, victims and witnesses of any further delay in jury trials.

"The remote jury centres were designed to operate during COVID, ensuring jury trials can continue while restrictions are in place.

“The jury centres are large ventilated spaces, with physical distancing for jurors at all times and are fully equipped with all the necessary precautions of face coverings, hand washing facilities and sanitisers.

“While we know that there are concerns at this time, we have strictly followed Public Health Scotland’s guidance to make these new centres as safe as possible.

"Having juries remote from courts enables physically distanced trials to proceed with the same health, safety and security measures available to all court users.

“Our videos available on our website (http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/coming-to-court/jurors) illustrate well all the measures jurors, witnesses and participants can expect and we would urge those called to serve as jurors or as witnesses to attend.

"Restrictions on travelling or attendance do not apply to those attending our courts or remote jury centres."

The coronavirus outbreak resulted in ODEON closing all of its cinemas in March last year, including their Fife Leisure Park complex.

It was able to re-open as coronavirus restrictions eased throughout the year, but the screen giant had to close in Dunfermline again as Fife entered into Tier 3 of the Scottish Government's coronavirus restrictions in November.

David Fraser, executive director of court operations, said: “All courts are open and our court buildings continue to operate in accordance with guidance from Public Health Scotland to safeguard our staff, judiciary and court users.

“As a result of the increasing spread of the new variant of Covid-19 across Scotland, the Lord President announced on January 11 that non-custody and non-priority summary trials due to call between January 12 and February 26 are adjourned.

“While this is necessary to support the public health response to Covid-19, we anticipate that this will increase the summary trial backlog by around 3,000 to 4,300 cases.

“Solemn business continues to be prioritised and since the first full month’s criminal programme in September, we can see further progress towards pre-Covid levels.

“While these are encouraging signs, scheduled cases are twice the normal level and the average waiting period for trials has doubled to 12 months in the high court and 15 months in sheriff solemn.

“Seven weeks without summary trials is likely to cause the waiting period to rise further from six months to 7.5 months in sheriff summary.

“We are working closely with the judiciary, Scottish Government, justice organisations, the legal profession and the third sector to find solutions to minimise delays and plan for an effective recovery when lockdown eases.

“We will continue to publish these figures on a monthly basis which will show the progress we are making and challenges we face against the backdrop of a global pandemic.”