HEAT IS ON: Major firearms sentencing delayed over health and safety after 'dock too hot' at Harrow Crown Court two months after it reopened following £26m modernisation

A MULTIPLE sentencing at Harrow Crown Court, which only reopened in April after a £26 million modernisation, had to be adjourned this morning (June 26 2026) due to problems with high heat.

Faisal Razzaq, 45, who was the getaway driver in the fatal shooting of PC Sharon Beshenivsky in Bradford in 2005, and five other people, were due to start sentencing from 10am for their roles in a conspiracy to supply converted blank-firing firearms.

Courtroom one of the crown court, which only reopened for hearings in April after a £26 million refurbishment, was filled with a number of fans, including one pointing into the dock.

Under health and safety rules defendants can only be in the dock if it is 26 degrees or under.

Ahead of the start, it was above that with a fan aimed at the open door in the hope it would bring it down.

Six defendants, due to be sentenced over a major firearms supply case, were being held in the cells in the meantime.

Her Honour Judge Hannah Kinch was concerned that the temperature may increase once all the defendants were brought up with security guards, meaning 11 people would be in there together.

She said: "We may be able to get the temperature down with fans, but due to health and safety the temperature in the dock needs to be monitored every half an hour and if it goes above 26 degrees, the defendants will have to be taken down again.

"We may have to do a lot of stopping and starting."

The court heard that all the defendants were keen to learn their fate today.

She added: "We do need to be able to operate in sensible fashion and not rising every ten minutes. I don't see how we can have a hearing where we are constantly stopping and starting and it is not fair to have the defendants kept in very difficult conditions because of the heat in the dock. 

"We have not been faced with this particular problem before we will have to see if we can get the temperature down to such a level that means we won't have to rise every few minutes - if we can get it a few degrees below the maximum it might work other than that I am at a slight at a loss as to what to suggest."

The court did consider sentencing two at a time, in the hope it kept temperatures below the maximum amount, but it remained above 26 degrees.

Judge Kirch rose while the court attempted to resolve the situation, but returned to the court at 12pm to say it had to be adjourned until October.

Razzaq who was convicted of manslaughter for his role in the fatal raid at family-run Universal Express travel agents in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in November 2005, received firearms for onward sale to criminal customers is being sentenced for conspiracy to sell prohibited firearms. 

Others being sentenced after admissions to the same offence are brothers Ricky from South Ockendon and Robert Dorey from Tilbury, Patrick Loughnane, of Hayes and Abdul Saleh of Edgware.

Loughnane's niece Tammy Rigg pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited firearm and possession of ammunition without a certificate and is also due to be sentenced today.

The court, which was closed in 

Built in 1991, the court was closed after RAAC was uncovered and the building deemed unsafe.

It was promised to be a modernised court building fitted with the latest technology and designed to deliver faster, fairer and more transparent justice.

At the time of the relaunch Minister for Courts and Legal Services Sarah Sackman KC said: “Reopening Harrow Crown Court is a major boost to London’s overstretched court system, cutting delays and getting justice moving again for Londoners.”

It was said it would be wheelchair accessible and equipped with the latest courtroom technology, with "greener", more efficient rooms.

The Ministry of Justice has been contacted for comment.