Maidstone Crown Court could soon be the only place in the county to hear murder trials.

The status will all depend on whether Canterbury appoints a senior judge to hear the most serious cases when presiding judge Adele Williams moves to the County Town court in September.

Judge Williams has exhausted her eight-year maximum stay at Canterbury, so must transfer to another court.

Her replacement would need to possess, what is called in legal terms, a ‘murder ticket’ in order for such cases to run.

Her present second in command, judge James O’Mahony and fellow judge Heather Norton are both able to hear attempted murder trials.

But Maidstone is already suffering long delays in getting trial dates with a backlog of around 700 to 800 cases.

The court, which has eight available courtrooms, is also two judges down on its usual quota, further causing cases to back-up.

Last week Judge Philip Statman expressed his frustration when telling members of a dead man’s family they would have to wait until March next year for the accused to stand trial.