A playful twist on jury trial proceedings will be held in Dorchester to raise funds for a specialist charity.

Weldmar Hospicecare’s annual ‘Jail and Bail event’ will be held at Shire Hall in Dorchester on Friday April,19 to raise funds for the end-of-life care charity’s services to patients and their families in Dorset.

It sees seven individuals, living and working in the community, will be put on trial for light-hearted humorous crime such as being a “Ceaseless Jibber-Jabber” or a “Know-it-all Nora.”

The convicts will be jailed inside the former cells at Dorchester's Shire Hall Courthouse Museum for a charity fundraiser. They will also be put on trial and ‘charged’ by a judge at the court room at Shire Hall, Dorchester. 

Dorset Echo: The cells at the Shire Hall Museum in Dorchester

Weldmar Hospicecare has set up an online giving page for each participant, details of which were kept under ‘lock and key’ until the week of the challenge.

On the day the prisoners could make calls, send emails and promote on social media, to spread the word to friends, family, colleagues and business contacts to help raise their bail money.

Each persons amount will be added together to create a fundraising total.

The actual fundraising day will start from 9am and finish at 4.30pm, with refreshments, awards and photo opportunities available. The individuals’ freedom will be only guaranteed if the suggested minimum bail requirement of £999 is raised.

Last year's event saw the group raise £9,200 for Weldmar Hospicecare, plus more than £1,000 for the museum itself, a registered charity.

READ MORE: Dorchester: 'convicts' locked up in former courthouse

More information about the event can be found on the Weldmar Hospicecare website. You can also nominate yourself a prisoner by filling in the website's online form: https://www.weldmarhospicecare.org/supporters/jailandbail/#form-modal-0