Law Week Festival 2025

An Evensong service in collaboration with Trinity Winchester. 

Trinity Winchester is a unique charity, providing wrap-around support for those who find themselves in crisis.
Homelessness can affect anyone, including those with ill-mental health, fleeing domestic abuse and family breakdowns.

Trinity have worked with over 10,000 individuals over the last 40 years, sadly the need has not diminished, charities like Trinity are needed more than ever.

This Evensong service is to remember those who lost their lives to homelessness.  Together, remember them today as valued and missed members of our community.

The High Sheriff of Hampshire’s annual service honouring all those who work in Law and Order, preceded by a procession down the High Street from the Law Courts. Everyone is welcome.

Photo credit: Joe Low

The media often prioritize stories that resonate with the public to generate the most interest. This leads to a focus on certain types of crimes and victims while others are overlooked. Julie Mackay discusses how we often views victims of crime in polarised ways based upon their age, gender and lifestyle and how not everyone is the ‘ideal victim’.

Julie spent over three decades in policing, the vast majority as a detective, rising to the rank of Detective Superintendent. She co-wrote the award winning ‘To Hunt a Killer’, which describes how she brought a murderer to justice after 31 years, through the revolutionary use of DNA; available as an ITV News podcast.

Tickets: £15

Photo: By Damien MacFadden

BearFace Theatre returns to this year’s Law Week Festival after last year’s truly remarkable, sold out performance. Join us for an immersive and thought-provoking audio experience exploring the criminal justice system.

Using soundscapes, audience interaction, creative performance, and the spoken word, Speak Out, Listen In shares genuine stories from people with lived experience. Co-created with men in prison, women on probation, and young people – this unique event challenges stereotypes; uncovering a host of hidden and thought-provoking perspectives from those that seldom have a voice.

Speak Out, Listen In encourages curiosity, discussion, and challenges commonly held perceptions of justice and society. You’ll leave with new insights, numerous questions, and a deeper understanding of your place within the system.

Tickets: £15pp

‘Hugely powerful..hard to shake’ The Financial Times

Join us to watch the award-winning documentary HOLLOWAY. Follow six women as they return to the now abandoned Holloway Prison in Central London to share some of the most intimate experiences of their lives. An eye-opening portrait of trauma and failing systems followed by a Q&A session with the film’s producers.

Tickets: £15

Do you have crime solving skills? Enjoy a murder mystery?

It is 1725 and a body has been found in the Fisherman’s Chapel at Winchester Cathedral.

Using crime scene reconstruction, available evidence from the time of the murder and our contemporary understanding of homicide, can you put this 300 year old murder to rest?

Suitable for ages 13+.

Led by the University of Winchester’s Faculty of Law, Crime and Justice.

Jane Austen’s “criminal mind,” while not literally criminal, refers to her insightful understanding and portrayal of societal ills and the darker aspects of human behaviour within her novels. While her stories often focus on love and social etiquette, they also explore themes of betrayal, deception, and the consequences of immoral actions.

Join Jessica Bull, as she explores these themes through her ‘Miss Austen Investigates’ novels. Find out how her teenage love of Austen led her down a rabbit hole that would eventually inspire her to write stories where our favourite literary icon takes on a whole new role. Insightful, quirky and entertaining!

Tickets: £20