WHEN a woman mysteriously disappears while on a family holiday, the finger of blame is pointed at her husband.

Despite no body being found, Frank Lane stands trial accused of murdering his wife Alison and a jury of men and women must be the judges of fact deciding his fate.

However this murder trial is not the most grave of cases and the duty of the jurors not actually one of the most solemn responsibilities in society.

Part theatrical spectacle and part social experiment, this is Murder Trial Live, an interactive game where a paying audience gets to decide a man’s fate in a realistic court scenario, all while enjoying a slap-up meal.

Actors playing barristers will put forward the evidence on both sides of the case as Brighton’s Hilton Metropole is converted into a makeshift court room for the event.

The audience will then be asked to rule on a man’s guilt.

Similar events across the country will look at how the views of jurors in Brighton vary with those in other cities.

Executive producer Samuel Piri said: “There’s a real appetite for crime and justice programmes at the moment and we wanted to test how fit for purpose our justice system is in this modern age. The fascinating thing about this experiment is that the same trial and evidence could produce different verdicts in different locations – it’s fascinating.”

Legal experts have been drafted in to make sure the fake evidence accurately resembles a real court case.

Alex Khan, a participant in a trial version of the event said: “The experience was incredible, there were people who had made up their minds before they had even sat down. The whole thing is a mind game, a man’s liberty is at stake here and the weight of responsibility is huge. I began to question my own decisions.”

Murder Trial Live is in Brighton on September 9.