Issue 161  26th September 2020

You will no doubt have heard the Prime Minister’s statement to the House of Commons and seen media coverage over the past few days about the course that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken over recent weeks, and the seriousness with which we must all continue to act in order to limit its spread. In light of this, I wanted to write to you on the latest situation. A similar message has also gone out to our staff, as well as to the judiciary...

As things stand, there have not been any additional measures announced that directly affect our ways of working in courts and tribunals but, for all of us, an emphasis on observing the measures that are already in place. These are summarised in the Government’s updated guidance, which includes links to guidance for Wales and Scotland, as well as the 'Hand. Space. Face’ public information campaign. It is incumbent on every one of us to follow this guidance and play our part in protecting each other - our colleagues, professional and public court users, friends, families and communities...

This briefing note provides an update on multi-hander trials and the Crown Court’s ability to hear these safely. It sets out the activity taking place in order to address identified challenges...

This exercise identified that, as of 7 July 2020, there were just over 1,000 multi-hander trial cases in the system involving 3 or more defendants... The assessment has shown that there is currently capacity to hear multi-hander trials of up to and including 6 defendants... There are currently no docks which would support a multi-hander trial of 7 or more defendants... There are just over 130 multi-hander trials of 7 or more defendants in the system. Currently, these cannot be listed unless one or more of the options below is applied...

HM Courts & Tribunals Service has revealed that it will introduce evening courts to bring down the backlog of cases in the magistrates’ court. In a webinar discussing HMCTS’s crime recovery plan yesterday, deputy director Jason Latham said HMCTS was in the ‘final stages’ of identifying how to roll out evening sessions, which would run from 5pm-8pm, Monday to Friday. Latham said the evening sessions would hear cases requiring minimal involvement from a legal representative.

Saturday courts will also be extended. Earlier this week the Ministry of Justice said magistrates’ courts were seeing the number of outstanding cases fall – dealing with around 21,000 cases a week against a pre-Covid baseline of 33,853. Latham said 90 additional sessions were currently running in the magistrates’ court every Saturday.

New legislation which underpins the work of MI5, police and other public authorities tackling serious crimes has today (Thursday 24 September) been introduced to Parliament.

Undercover operatives and agents play a crucial role in preventing and safeguarding victims from the most serious crimes, including terrorism and child sexual abuse. In order to gain the trust of those under investigation, there are occasions where they need to participate in criminality themselves. This is a longstanding capability which remains critical for national security.

The Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) Bill provides a clear and consistent statutory basis for a limited number of public authorities to continue to authorise participation in criminality, in carefully managed circumstances.

About 10% of county lines drug networks in England and Wales have been shut down following a week-long operation, police have said. The crackdown last week resulted in the arrests of more than 1,000 people and the seizure of 18 guns, more than £500,000 in cash, and Class A drugs worth over £1m. It involved all 43 regional forces in England and Wales, along with the British Transport Police and the National Crime Agency. Police said the operation resulted in the shutting down of 102 "deal lines", linked to unique phone numbers used to buy drugs.

The chief executive of HM Courts & Tribunals Service has begun an urgent investigation into how a black barrister was repeatedly mistaken for a defendant in court yesterday. Criminal and family law barrister Alexandra Wilson explained events on Twitter, saying she believed a light needed to be shone on the issue ‘especially given so many people like me seem to experience the same thing’. She said: 'There MUST be something about my face that says "not a barrister" because I am literally wearing a black suit like everyone else. I don't get it. Today it actually upset me a bit but... we move x.'