Issue 210  11th September 2021

Manchester Crown Court has been revamped to create a space that is three times the size of a usual courtroom – allowing for trials with up to 12 defendants, which usually involve gang-related crime such as county lines drug trafficking, murders, and money laundering.

The trials that require this level of space – known as multi-handers – have built up during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the need for social distancing. The super courtroom will create the space needed to get through these cases at speed, while preventing disruption to other cases in the building.

Less than half of victims would report a crime again after their experience of the justice system, a new survey has found. Just 43 per cent of the 600 respondents to an online poll launched by Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales, Dame Vera Baird, said they would lodge a complaint in the future, while slightly more than a third of people revealed they would not consider doing this.

The survey’s findings come at a time when the courts backlog has reached a record high. As of 31 March, there were almost 60,000 crown court cases awaiting trial in England and Wales, a 45 per cent increase from the previous year. The average waiting time also rose by more than 40 per cent to 363 days. The survey found just 9 per cent of people said their cases were handled promptly by the courts. The number of people who said they would attend court again dropped considerably from last year’s poll results, falling from 67 per cent to 50 per cent.

Dame Cressida Dick will serve an extra two years as Metropolitan Police commissioner, it has been confirmed. She became the first woman to lead the London's force when she was appointed in 2017 and will remain until 2024. On Wednesday, a number of high-profile signatories wrote an open letter accusing her of "presiding over a culture of incompetence and cover-up". Dame Cressida, 60, said she was "honoured and humbled" to have her contract extended.

The Government is considering establishing a reservist police force to allow highly skilled specialists and former officers to join in the fight against crime, The Telegraph can reveal. Operating along similar lines to the Armed Forces reserve, recruits could be called upon in times of increased demand to support regular officers. Retired officers, or those who have left the service early, could also be retained for a period in order to bolster numbers, especially in experienced ranks.

Volunteers would be rewarded for their time and the scheme would also help cement relationships between the police and wider society, it is said. But the real value is thought to be in persuading highly trained professionals from the private sector – especially in fields such as cyber security and digital technology – to volunteer their time and skills.

The Queen has been pleased to approve the re-appointments of:

• Rt Hon Suella Braverman QC MP as Attorney General
• Rt Hon Michael Ellis QC MP as Solicitor General
• Rt Hon Lucy Frazer QC MP as a Minister of State in the Ministry of Justice

This follows the return of Suella Braverman from maternity leave.

A leading criminal defence barrister has been appointed to conduct an independent review of the law around domestic homicides.

Clare Wade QC – who was lead counsel in the high-profile case of Sally Challen – will examine the need to reform the law before presenting her findings and recommendations to the Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland QC MP. She will consider whether the law could better protect the public and ensure sentences reflect the severity of these crimes. It follows an initial review carried out by the MOJ which looked in detail at more than 100 cases, including analysis of the sentences imposed, sentencing remarks, as well as information on the gender of perpetrators and victims and the method of killing. This was in response to a number of cases in which concerns were raised about the minimum term for murders committed with a weapon.