YORK Crown Court is closing its doors for four weeks this summer so workmen can move in.

All cases from August 4 to August 29 will be heard at Leeds Crown Court instead of in the Georgian courthouse next to Clifford's Tower.

While the judges, defendants, witnesses, barristers and others make the 30-mile trip to West Yorkshire, workmen will be laying new cables and modernising the courts' computer and electronic network.

According to the Lord Chancellor's Department, the four-week project is part of on-going modernisation of courts and tribunals across the country.

The department, which oversees all crown and county courts, hopes that the work will improve access to justice.

When the lawyers and defendants return in September, the court will have an infrastructure that could allow evidence to be heard electronically, though it may not used for that immediately. It will also have improved video and TV link facilities in court and an improved computer network.

Office staff will stay in the building, but those who work inside the courts, such as ushers and clerks, will join the exodus to Leeds.

According to a member of the department, the work will respect the historical importance of the crown court, a Grade I listed building specially designed for the now defunct Assizes and will abide by all the relevant rules and regulations.

The court last closed its doors in 1989-90 when the building was completely refurbished and underpinned.

The judges were away for 18 months, sitting in Beverley, Doncaster and Leeds.

Updated: 09:06 Tuesday, May 27, 2003