Old Bailey splendour revealed

THIS is an unprecedented look inside a building normally closed to the eyes of the outside world.

Photographs of the Grand Hall of the Central Criminal Court, better known as the Old Bailey, are normally banned.

But special permission has been granted for this image which shows some of the splendour of the world's most famous court.

Behind the cleaner is the entrance to Court number one where the most serious trials are held.

Above the doorway is Justice on the steps of St Paul's, painted by the artist Gerald Moira, who insinuated himself into the picture as a centurion.

To Justice's right is Moses receiving the Ten Commandments and to her left is Alfred the Great, the ninth-centurylawgiver and king.

Original artwork by William Richmond was badly damaged by German bombs on 10 May 1941 and in the Fifties, Moira - then in his eighties - was hired to recreate the murals.

There are also four statues in the hall: CharlesI, Charles II, Sir Thomas Gresham - a former Lord Mayor of London representing the City which owns the building - and Elizabeth Fry, the Victorian prison reformer.