LONDON, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Four men charged with a large armed robbery went on trial Tuesday before a judge in London in the first criminal trial without a jury in Britain in 400 years.
John Twomey, Peter Blake, Barry Hibberd and Glen Cameron are being tried under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which took effect in 2007, The Independent reports. The law allows non-jury trials when there is danger of jury tampering.
The four men allegedly robbed a warehouse at Heathrow International Airport of 1.75 million pounds in February 2004.
The state has spent an estimated 24 million pounds (almost $40 million) trying to convict the defendants. Their most recent trial, their third, ended because of alleged jury tampering.
The trial is being held in the Royal Courts of Justice before a High Court judge. Outside the court, a small group of protesters carried signs with slogans like "No jury, no justice."
Trial by jury was one of the rights in the Magna Carta, although the notorious Court of the Star Chamber was only abolished in the 17th century. In the 1970s, the British government introduced controversial non-jury Diplock courts in Northern Ireland.
