TRIALS set to be heard at Ayrshire Sheriff courts will be screened for jurors in an ODEON cinema.

Ayr ODEON will be used for trials at Ayr Sheriff Court and Kilmarnock Sheriff Court from January.

The facility at Burns Statue Square will be set up as a remote jury centre to allow Sheriff Court jury trials to re-start after being shut down by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service have confirmed that the four screen complex will show trials live from Ayr Sheriff Court starting from January 11, 2021.

Sheriff Court Jury trials will operate from nominated courts in each of the six Sheriffdoms with juries located in a remote jury centre managed by SCTS.

Sheriffs Principal are also making arrangements to transfer business in the respective Sheriffdoms to the nominated courts.

The restart of Sheriff and Jury Trials is overseen by a working group chaired by Sheriff Principal Craig Turnbull and involves a range of practitioners in the justice system.

David Fraser, SCTS Chief Operations Officer said :“The commencement of trials in Edinburgh and Glasgow next week sees the restart of Sheriff Court jury trials. There has been exceptional progress to secure remote jury centre venues required and we intend to move as quickly as possible to the pre-COVID number of sheriff court jury trials proceeding in Scotland.”