Issue 135  28th March 2020

Coronavirus Priority Courts

The work of courts and tribunals will be consolidated into fewer buildings, maintaining the safety of all in the courts and in line with public health advice... There will be 157 priority court and tribunal buildings open for essential face-to-face hearings. This represents 42% of the 370 crown, magistrates, county and family courts and tribunals across England and Wales.

In addition, a further 124 court and tribunal buildings will remain closed to the public but open to HM Courts and Tribunal (HMCTS) staff, the judiciary and those from other agencies. These ‘staffed courts’ will support video and telephone hearings, progress cases without hearings and ensure continued access to justice.

All remaining courts and tribunals will close temporarily.

Coronavirus: Guidance on Attending Hearings

Crown Courts: You should not attend the Crown Court in person unless you are in a part heard trial. It will be a judicial decision whether the trial will continue, taking into account representations and the stage reached in the trial. If the jury is in retirement or about to retire, it is highly likely that it will go on, if possible. For all other cases, you should engage with the court through the DCS system to try to move it forward remotely.

Magistrates' Courts: You should not attend the Magistrates' Court in person unless you are in an urgent case today (see the list below). Magistrates' Courts will not be dealing with any other business in person. Magistrates' are being told not to attend.

Audio and Video Hearings - The Coronavirus Act 2020

The Coronavirus Act 2020 expands the availability of video and audio link in court proceedings.

The relevant schedule of the Act can be found here.

A summary of the types of hearings that can be conducted over audio or video only has been created by HHJ Lana Wood and can be found here.

New Coronavirus Enforcement Powers

Any adults who commit an offence under the new regulations will be handed £60 fines, reduced to £30 if payment is made within two weeks. But if anyone has been fined for breaking the coronavirus lockdown before, the fine will be doubled to a maximum of £960. People will not be convicted of an offence if they pay the money within 28 days, after which enforcement action will start.

"Individuals who do not pay a fixed penalty notice under the Regulations could be taken to court, with magistrates able to impose unlimited fines,” a Home Office spokesperson said. If an individual continues to refuse to comply, they will be acting unlawfully, and the police may arrest them where deemed proportionate and necessary.

The relevant Regulations can be found here.

'Coronavirus coughs at key workers will be charged as assault, CPS warns'

Anyone using coronavirus to threaten emergency and essential workers faces serious criminal charges, the Director of Public Prosecutions warns today. The CPS intervention comes after reports in recent days of police, shop workers and vulnerable groups being deliberately coughed at by people claiming to have the disease.

Such behaviour is illegal and assaults specifically against emergency workers are punishable by up to 12 months in prison.Coughs directed as a threat at other key workers or members of the public could be charged as common assault.

'National Crime Agency warn that organised crime groups may try to exploit the coronavirus outbreak to target the UK'

The National Crime Agency today warned that organised crime groups may try to exploit the coronavirus outbreak to target the UK.

Cyber-crime investigators have seen instances of coronavirus-themed malicious apps and websites, as well as email phishing attacks aimed at stealing personal and financial information... The City of London Police have issued an alert regarding fraudsters using the outbreak to facilitate fraud and cyber-crime. Reported cases include criminals posing as health officials in an attempt to get victims to disclose personal information... There have also been cases of criminal networks exploiting demand for certain coronavirus-related products. One such incident saw a consignment of suspected fake Covid-19 test kits sent from the UK seized by US border officials in Los Angeles... And criminal groups involved in people smuggling have continued to try and evade border controls using small boats, with NCA intelligence suggesting that some OCGs are even telling migrants the UK is safer than the continent in a bid to drive up demand.

'CCRC to refer 39 Post Office cases on abuse of process argument'

The Criminal Cases Review Commission has so far decided to refer for appeal the convictions of 39 Post Office applicants. The Commission will be referring all those cases, which involve convictions for theft, fraud and false accounting, on the basis of the argument that each prosecution amounted to an abuse of process. (The details of the individual cases being referred are listed at the end of this release).

The abuse of process argument is based on issues with the Post Office’s Horizon computer system which may have had an impact on the cases referred. The argument arises out of two civil court judgments – the Common Issues Judgment of the 15th March 2019 (Bates v Post Office [2019] EWHC 606 (QB)), and particularly the Horizon Issues Judgment handed down on the 16th December 2019 (Bates v Post Office [2019] EWHC 3408 (QB)).