Issue 147  20th June 2020

The lord chief justice has said that ministers should consider limiting the availability of jury trials if court delays become unmanageable.

Lord Burnett of Maldon expected no change to the way that serious charges — such as rape and murder — were tried in England and Wales. The least serious offences would continue to be decided by magistrates. But between those extremes were cases — such as assault, theft and burglary — that could be tried either by magistrates or by a judge and jury. At present, a defendant charged with one of these so-called ‘either-way’ offences can insist on jury trial.

Lord Burnett told the BBC Radio 4 programme Law in Action: ‘A possibility that I believe is worthy of consideration by policymakers is to legislate to enable, for a short time, the disposal of either-way trials in the Crown court by a judge sitting with two magistrates.

Following rigorous health and safety assessments, five further courts are set to resume trials on 22 June. This brings the total number of courts hearing jury trials up to 16. The trials at all courts will take place under special arrangements to maintain the safety of all participants, including jurors and witnesses.

• Chelmsford Crown Court 22 June 2020
• Croydon Crown Court 22 June 2020
• Guildford Crown Court 22 June 2020
• Hull Crown Court 22 June 2020
• Mold Crown Court 22 June 2020

We have received the following message from the Judicial Office: ... It is recognised that at the beginning of this crisis the guidance issued by the SPJ and DSPJ on 14th April encouraged the use of participation in court proceedings through live video or audio link. It is understood that over the subsequent weeks some latitude was given to appearing remotely by default...

However, we are now not at the same crisis levels and therefore the law and Criminal Procedure Rules should be followed with the expectation that advocates will attend in person unless they have made an application to the court to attend remotely. Such applications do not have to be in writing. Therefore, if an advocate has a Magistrates’ Court hearing on Monday 22nd June and has not applied formally to appear remotely they must either attend court or contact the court applying for leave to attend remotely. This can be done by a phone call or in writing (email).

The government will ban the “rough sex defence” under new domestic abuse legislation, a justice minister has indicated. Alex Chalk MP accepted it was wrong for defendants to suggest that the death of a woman was excusable because she consented to violent sexual activity. “That is unconscionable, and the government are committed to making that crystal clear,” he told a meeting of the Public Bill Committee. However he said that care had to be taken to prevent a change in law creating loopholes or leading to unintended consequences.

Labour will support the government in introducing prison sentences of up to 10 years for those who desecrate war memorials. Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds told Sky News his party was "willing to work with the government" on proposed new legislation.

Recent protests in London have seen the Cenotaph marked with graffiti, while on Saturday a man was photographed apparently urinating next to the memorial to PC Keith Palmer, the policeman killed in the 2017 Westminster terror attack. A group of MPs will meet Justice Secretary Robert Buckland this week to discuss proposals to amend existing laws to make a provision about damage to war memorials.

Priti Patel has pledged to unveil plans within weeks to double the sentences for offenders who assault emergency workers to two years to “make these thugs think twice.”

The Home Secretary’s pledge came as police figures showed assaults on emergency service workers have risen by 24 per cent in the four weeks to June 7, driven by a surge in spitting and coughing attacks on staff. The National Police Chiefs’ Council attributed it to Covid-related attacks where offenders claimed to have the disease then spat or coughed at workers as well as the disorder in protests triggered by the death of George Floyd in the US. It follows a 14 per cent rise in such assaults in the previous month.