Final judgement

The shutters were brought down and the imposing wooden doors closed for the last time on Friday after 108 years.

The last adult cases were heard on Thursday with magistrates, prosecutors, probation staff and ushers marking a piece of history with a poignant service.

Magistrate Paul Wiltshire, who sat during the final session at the former Melksham court, said no newly built courthouse could match the "grandness" of Trowbridge.

Recalling how magistrates were forced to wear thick coats in winter when the heating failed, Mr Wiltshire said the building held a host of fond memories.

He said: "Magistrates sometimes retired to the stairs to deliberate on what should be the right possible options. How things have changed.

"I do commend Trowbridge Town Council for the efforts they have given to try and preserve the courts in Trowbridge."

Long serving solicitor John Elliott, a Trowbridge court veteran of 45 years, labelled the new courthouses as "clinical".

He said: "It is a sad old day because this delightful building is closing down. We have all the facilities here that an advocate and his client could want. We are having to move to a clinical court building called Chippenham."

Rhys Davies, of the Crown Prosecution Service, hailed the closure as an end of an era.

"It is with great sadness that we are seeing the closure of Trowbridge courthouse. We have felt privileged to work in these surroundings."

Paul Farrow, of the Wiltshire and Swindon Magistrates' Court Service, said the closure was "no celebration".

"Any decision to close a courthouse building will have an impact on the staff who support the magistrates," he said.

"The magistrates cannot do the work without the support of committed hard-working staff. They have shown compassion, understanding and worked very hard in hopefully the best traditions of the magistrates court service."

Mal Munday, of Wiltshire Probation, said: "This is an end of an era and it marks a change in the delivery of justice in Wiltshire."

The former town hall was given to the town by wealthy cloth manufacturer Sir Roger Brown in 1887 and officially opened by the Duchess of Albany two years later.

Magistrates have been sitting in the building since 1895.

Courthouse casenotes reveal an infamous five

DAVID JAMES

The killing of PC Desmond Kellam in 1979 sparked an outpouring of grief.

Jamaican David Octavius James bludgeoned the Trowbridge policeman around the head with a bill-hook just moments after breaking into WH Smith.

PC Kellam, a father-of-two from Westbury, died from a massive brain haemorrhage.

James was cleared of murder at his Crown Court trial and sentenced to eight years for manslaughter.

HEATHER ARNOLD

A 150-strong crowd barracked double- murderer Heather Arnold on her way into court in 1986.

Oranges, dog food and coins were thrown at the 50-year-old maths teacher who killed the 39-year-old wife and eight-month-old daughter of a colleague.

Arnold, who taught at Kingdown School in Warminster, became infatuated with fellow teacher Paul Sutcliffe and butchered his wife Jeanne and daughter Heidi with an axe at their Westbury home.

KEVIN GREENLAND

The case of an Army Lance Corporal who stabbed his girlfriend's parents to death in a triple knife attack attracted great media interest in August 1989.

Greenland used a Ghurka knife to kill Hilperton couple Ursula and Brian Randall in a revenge attack aimed at his 21-year-old girlfriend, Sarah.

Facing a double murder charge and a third charge of attempted murder, Greenland was found hanging in his cell two months later.

GRAHAM CAVILL

The news of Shirley Osment's violent death was met with shock in Westbury as the town struggled to cope with a fifth murder in six years.

Jealous lover Graham Cavill strangled the 29-year-old mother-of-three after a night out at the British Rail social club in 1992.

The public gallery in Trowbridge was packed for the first appearance of Cavill, 38, who wrap-ped his partner's body in a carpet and burnt it on a makeshift pyre near a Bath beauty spot.

MILES EVANS

Police had to seal off Silver Street and Market Street in Trowbridge when child killer Miles Evans made his first court appearance.

Flanked by security guards to protect him from jostling crowds, 23-year-old Evans was whisked into the court for a hearing in 1996.

Soldier Evans suffocated his nine-year-old stepdaughter Zoe with her own crop top before burying her body in a badger sett on Battles-bury Hill, Warminster.