History, Art History and Culture

Participants will be expected to listen to the evidence, making notes as they go, then discuss the case and attempt to reach a verdict, based on what they have heard each day. No experience of the course from previous years, advance reading, or knowledge of the English judicial system is needed. The cases chosen for your consideration will not be revealed in advance and just as in a real Jury Room, jurors will be requested to switch off all electronic devices and to put aside any pre-conceived ideas they may have, if they do happen to have heard or read anything about any of these cases previously.

Although these are all real cases, no distressing crime scene photographs will be used.

Participants should note that this course involves a lot of listening, as it is necessary to hear all the available evidence, prior to discussing the case and attempting to reach a verdict.

Diane Janes

About Diane

Diane Janes is the author of a more than a dozen crime novels, four respected books on real life historical murders, and a novel published under the pen name Nell Finnemore, which has nothing to do with crime at all! She was an invited contributor to the Crime Writers Association anthology Truly Criminal, and has contributed to several TV programmes, including regular appearances and behind the scenes assistance with the popular BBC TV series Murder, Mystery & My Family. Her writing has been shortlisted for several awards and in 2012 she was awarded a Red Herring - the special award presented by the Crime Writers Association for services to the genre. Diane has been tutoring at Marlborough College Summer School since 2011. She has personally researched each of the cases chosen for the Summer School jury's consideration.