Newcastle is one of just three locations across England that has been chosen to set up a specialist rape court. The pilot scheme is designed to improve dismal conviction rates for serious sexual offences.
It will be rolled out in Newcastle, Leeds, and Snaresbrook Crown Courts, which will each have a dedicated courtroom for dealing with rape cases, while the rest of the building deals with other offences. They were chosen because they are currently dealing with a higher-than-average number of sex offence cases, the Government said.
Victims will not be able to select to have their case heard at these three locations specifically. However, the Government said all court staff, police and prosecutors working on serious sex offence cases in the three pilot courts will receive specialist trauma training while Independent Sexual Violence Advisers will also be made available to victims.
