Barristers accuse MoJ of false economies in crown court backlogs

A dispute over delays to crown court trials has broken out after criminal barristers accused the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of making false economies by not reducing case backlogs.

Figures obtained by the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) show two of London’s busiest crown courts, Snaresbrook and Isleworth, had almost 2,000 cases outstanding according to the latest figures.

But HM Courts and Tribunals Service maintains that waiting times are at their shortest since 2014 and claims the number of outstanding cases has halved in the past four years.

The row centres on the government’s decision to reduce the number of sitting days it pays for recorders – part-time judges – to hear criminal trials at crown courts on the grounds that the number of cases coming to court has fallen.

Earlier this month, Lady Justice Macur, the senior presiding judge in England and Wales, said maintaining the backlog of cases by not employing more recorders to hear waiting cases “was a political decision”.

A survey of crown courts by lawyers on Monday reported that 130 out of 453 available criminal courtrooms on Monday were not sitting. The CBA pointed out that last week, for example, a fraud case listed for trial at Southwark was relisted for summer 2020.

Figures obtained by the CBA from the MoJ’s justice statistics analytical services division recorded that on 31 March Snaresbrook crown court in east London had 1,106 cases outstanding. This included 213 violence cases, 55 sexual cases, 60 robbery cases, 87 theft offences, 29 criminal damage and arson cases, and 83 possession of weapons cases.

At Isleworth in west London 830 cases were outstanding, of which 140 were violence cases, 39 sexual offences, 31 robbery cases, 57 theft cases and 49 possession of weapons cases.

Caroline Goodwin, the CBA chair, said: “Is the MoJ serious when it says this is an efficiency saving? This is nothing other than an appalling waste of time, money and resources. It is up and down the country.

“Rape trials in parts of the country are presently being listed well into next year, so it does not appear as if there is any true prioritisation. This is a sticking plaster over a suppurating wound.

“Why is MoJ so reluctant to allow for an increase in sitting days? Why does MoJ think it is cost-effective to leave courts sitting empty? The inflexibility surrounding reduced sitting days has to end.”

A HM Courts and Tribunals Service spokesperson said: “The number of cases dealt with in the crown court is at the lowest since 2000 and waiting times are at their shortest since 2014. Sitting days are based on the number of cases we expect the court to hear and will be reviewed throughout the year.

“This approach has allowed us to halve the number of outstanding cases in England and Wales over the last four years.”