24-hour courts unlikely (From Witney Gazette)

24-hour courts unlikely

9:00am Wednesday 25th October 2006 in Witney By Jo Duckles

T is unlikely that magistrates courts will open 24 hours per day in Oxfordshire, despite calls from MPs.

On Thursday, MPs demanded 24-hour courts to end an epidemic of trials being cancelled at the last minute.

Nationally, 14 per cent court hearings do not go ahead to the frustration of victims and witnesses, who see justice delayed, with an increase in costs for the taxpayer.

In Oxfordshire in March, one in five cases were scrapped at the last minute, and the latest figures reveal just over one in ten are abandoned at the last minute in the county.

The so-called 'cracked and ineffective' trials were caused either because prosecutors were not ready, or because it was decided to drop the case on the first day of the hearing.

Delays nationwide cost the taxpayer £173m every year.

The Thames Valley's chief Crown prosecutor, Baljit Ubhey, said: "Whilst the (latest) picture in the Thames Valley in relation to ineffective hearings in magistrates' courts is distinctly healthier than the national one, we accept that there is further work to be done."

She said the area was undergoing a restructure to redefine the roles of administrations staff, to maximise the support given to lawyers to progress cases.

A spokesman for the region's courts said it was not yet known whether 24-hour courts would begin in the area.

He said: "When night courts were tested in 2002/2003, they were very expensive, and saw relatively few cases. People would be sitting waiting for cases to be heard, and there was the issue of having staff working out of hours."

The MPs say most delays caused by the Crown Prosecution Service were avoidable - with reasons including mislaid files, poor case tracking, insufficient time for preparing cases, and a failure to prioritise.

Edward Leigh, Tory chairman of the PAC, said: "This is not only a waste of taxpayers' money, but also an affront to society's expectation that the guilty be swiftly brought to justice.

"The management of cases must be radically improved, with fewer barriers between lawyers and administrative staff." Among the PAC's other recommendations are the introduction of pagers for CPS lawyers, so they can be contacted more easily when away from the office, and the provision of DVD players in every CPS office, to allow lawyers to review and present evidence.

The number of firearms offences in the year to the end of June fell by eight per cent, to 10,267, including a drop in gun killings from 64 to 51.

Home Office Minister, Tony McNulty, said: "We have made significant progress on violent crime in recent years, and I am encouraged that overall violent crime is stable and police recorded crime has fallen.

"Although recorded robbery has increased, the rate is much slower than in recent quarters, and is the result of work we are doing with the police, Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships, and the mobile phone industry, as well as our advertising campaign warning people to keep their valuables safe.

"But I am not complacent, and recognise that more work needs to be done to reverse this trend."