One of Britain’s most famous heroines is to go on trial in Canterbury... accused of being a housebreaker!

And another of the country’s heartthrobs is also facing an accusation that he is a drugs smuggler!

Now people in Kent are being invited to volunteer to sit as jury members in the twin show trials at Canterbury Crown Court.

They will then decide if Jane Eyre – the eponymous hero of the Charlotte Bronte novel – and Fitzwilliam Darcy – the knee-trembling hunk from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice - are guilty or innocent.

The mock trials will take place during the court’s open day on Saturday, which is part of the Magna Carta celebrations.

Eyre – who will be prosecuted and defended by real-life barristers – is accused of breaking into Bulwark Grange, Blissington, Woodchurch in July last year.

The prosecution will allege Eyre, aged 168, had hired a car from the Maidstone-based car company ‘We Do Nice Bangers’ in which an earring from the £2,000 break-in was later discovered by detectives.

After her arrest the former teacher is alleged to have told officers she was with her boyfriend Ed Rochester in a cafe in Maidstone.

Mr Darcy is also expected to plead not guilty to having six kilos of heroin in the boot of his Aston Martin when he was stopped in Dover after returning from a “stag do” in Amsterdam.

He is alleged to have told officers he had met a girl called “Lizzie” from Margate during his trip to Holland and she had asked him to carry her cases home.

Canterbury’s senior Judge Adele Williams will be presiding over some of the trials at 10am after visitors have received a welcome from the High Sheriff of Kent, William Alexander.

She said: “Families and schoolchildren are welcome to listen to the cases or to sit on a jury..and there will also be opportunities to be a judge and pass sentence.

“I decided to use Jane Eyre and Mr Darcy as defendants for a bit of fun...and there is also a bit of magic in the third trial but people will have to turn up to find out who is in the dock!”

Among the displays on show will be ones from the Probation Service, The Witness Service, The Crown Prosecution Service, and there will also be police tracker dogs which are used to find hidden drugs.

And there will also be a discussion among lawyers about the relevance of the Magna Carta in today’s justice system.

And in the afternoon, judges and barristers will join hundreds of others taking part in a walk around Canterbury to help raise funds for the Kent Law Campaign.