Judge poses the four key questions in Dreamspace case

Feb 20 2009 by Garry Willey, The Journal

JURORS were told to forget about the fate of the victims when deciding the fate of Dreamspace creator Maurice Agis. Justice Cox, sitting at Newcastle Crown Court, told the jury they must follow a four-point plan when deciding if the 77-year-old artist was guilty of manslaughter.

She said the panel should only concentrate “calmly and dispassionately” on the evidence they had heard about the tragedy which left two dead and others badly injured at Chester-le-Street’s Riverside Park in July 2006.

Justice Cox said feelings of sympathy both for the victims and the plight of 77-year-old Agis had no part to play.

And instead Justice Cox – summing up at Newcastle Crown Court – laid out a four-step route the jury must take to decide whether the artist is guilty or innocent of manslaughter.

She said: “This was without doubt a tragedy. Two lives were lost, causing obvious suffering to the families of those who died and to those who were injured in such distressing circumstances.

“There will be strong feelings of sympathy towards them.

“Then we have the defendant, a man in his late seventies, a man of previous good character who now finds himself before a criminal court facing serious criminal charges. His circumstances can also cause feelings of sympathy.

“But feelings of emotion and sympathy can cloud judgment and prevent you from carrying out your role so you must please guard against them.”