Birmingham Crown Court plunged into darkness as defendants, jurors and lawyers denied entry

Defendants, jurors, witnesses and lawyers have been denied entry to the courthouse at Newton Street this morning

Birmingham Crown Court has been plunged into darkness after a power cut hit the main building. Defendants, jurors, witnesses and lawyers were among those denied entry to the courthouse on Newton Street this morning with no indication as to when the issues will be resolved.

The outage is likely to cause severe disruption as all 12 courtrooms in the building were due to hear cases from 10am. Dozens of bemused people stood outside the building this morning as security staff were forced to turn them away.

Inside the building appeared to be in total darkness. However there were no such problems at the court annex building on the other side of Newton Street.

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A National Grid spokesman said: "A network fault has been affecting the Law Courts. While we locate and fix the fault, we are supplying the backup generator with power."

They added there was a 'minor maintenance issue' with the generator, which was unrelated to the network fault and quickly resolved.