Nightingale court tells parents of victim of alleged rape there is no room for them at trial

A sign hangs on a temporary Nightingale court. The courts were created to help to clear the backlog of cases durng the coronavirus pandemic. Photograph: Darren Staples/Getty Images

The parents of a schoolgirl who has accused a stranger of rape have been told by police that there is not enough space in a Nightingale court for them to attend the alleged attacker’s trial.

Instead, the family of the teenager have been advised that one of her parents should sit in an overspill room that would be shared with two members of the alleged rapist’s family.