An interesting titbit.
I was out socially today and introduced to a criminal barrister who practises across East Anglia and the northern reach of the Home Counties - he has frequent cases in Cambridge, Luton and St Albans.
Talk turned to the Helen Bailey case over lunch and he remarked that St Albans is what is known among counsel as a "convicting court", where there is a far higher likelihood of conviction than average. No-one knows why this should be the case, but across the country there are courts where juries are known for predominantly either acquitting or convicting.
The barrister said that if he was IS's defence he would have hoped for trial Luton Crown Court, rather than St Albans, as acquittal rates are typically high in Bedfordshire. In his view, IS needs "all the help he can get."