Issue 275  7th January 2023

A shortage of prosecutors in the UK’s criminal justice system threatens to worsen the backlogs in the country’s Crown Courts, the head of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has warned. A record number of criminal cases are now being halted due to a lack of prosecutors willing and able to work, CBA chair Kirsty Brimelow KC told City A.M. Criminal barristers are increasingly opting to work on the defence side of cases, due to lower rates of pay for prosecution work...

The pay disparity is partly a result of the 15 per cent pay hike that was handed out to defence barristers last October, following the CBA’s months’ long strike. The legal aid deal inked by former justice secretary Brandon Lewis upped fees for defence cases, but kept rates for prosecution cases the same. The remuneration gap means independent, self-employed barristers are refusing to work for the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and instead opting to do defence work. However, the shortage of prosecutors is also a result of wider drought of criminal barristers, due to lower levels of pay compared to other practice areas, such as corporate law...

The criminal justice system is “overloaded”, with a shortage of barristers worsening lengthy delays that damage both victims and defendants, the director of public prosecutions has warned. Max Hill KC, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said officials have resorted to “ringing around” independent barristers trying to find someone to represent them for some court hearings. He warned that some victims were dropping out of cases because they are “unable to stay with a process that takes months or years”, after the waiting time for trials rocketed. “This is not their fault,” he told The Independent. “It is a fact that with delay through an overload of cases and other resourcing issues it is often taking far longer than we would like to assess, investigate and then prosecute cases.”...

Mr Hill said independent barristers were free to choose what work they take, and “there are times when we do find it very difficult” to find suitable representation. He said the CPS sometimes resorts to “literally ringing round sets of barristers’ chambers, trying to place the brief”, adding: “These are difficult times. We do have an overloaded system, it’s not easy.” He is calling for the increase in fees won by defence barristers’ through their industrial action to be matched for prosecutors, who are now being paid less. Mr Hill said parity was “necessary”, adding: “Advocacy needs to be rewarded in the same way, whether you defend or prosecute.”

Rape victims should not be subjected to “further trauma” in court, the director of public prosecutions has said after a woman described how she broke down while being accused of flirting with her alleged attacker. Alison* says she was raped by a stranger in 2019, being left with internal injuries and bruises after waking up to find him attacking her in bed. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) did not make a charging decision for more than two years, and weeks after the third anniversary of the attack the perpetrator was acquitted by a jury after claiming they had “consensual rough sex”...

Mr Hill said that “no part of the approach should be victim-blaming”, and that specialist CPS prosecutors were advising police on what evidence was needed to pass the charging threshold. He added: “The CPS and the wider criminal justice system hasn’t done well enough in the past but, equally, the attitude that I see running right across the system now gives me confidence that we are getting it right.” The government has been increasing the use of pre-recorded cross-examination for vulnerable victims, which means they do not have to attend court for questioning in person. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We are overhauling our entire response to rape – rolling out a new suspect-centred approach to police investigations, quadrupling victim support funding, allowing victims to pre-record cross-examination and launching a new 24/7 rape and sexual abuse helpline.”

New legal terrorism orders specifically for children should be brought in to tackle the growing numbers being arrested, the official adviser on terrorism law has told the government. Ministers are studying plans that would result in children being compelled to accept help or face jail, devised by Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation.

The proposed new orders would carry legal force and, under them, children aged 17 or under who have been arrested for lower-level terrorism offences would be given a choice. They could either risk prosecution, imprisonment and a criminal record or accept stringent measures, Hall said. Hall, whose role is to advise the government and parliament on terrorism laws, said: “I’m not talking about the most serious cases, where prosecution will usually remain the best option. But during the last three years there has been a slew of internet cases where the suspected terrorist conduct all relates to what children are saying or downloading online. “There is a repeat pattern of particular offences, which I call documentary offences – instruction manuals, terrorist publications, encouragement – all internet-based, where there is no evidence of attack-planning. These offences were created at a time when there was a clearer link between words and violence, in the context of the IRA and al-Qaida. That link is less clear for children online.”

Hall’s proposals include monitoring software on their electronic devices to detect if they are accessing extremist material, limits on their use of devices, and potentially limits on whom they could contact. They would also have to attend mentoring sessions in an attempt to divert them from any belief in violent extremism. Under the plans being studied, breaching these conditions would in itself be an arrestable offence punishable by the courts. Complying with the conditions would avoid prosecution.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Rt Hon. Dominic Raab MP, has announced the Royal Appointment of Helen Pitcher OBE as the Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission. She will hold the role for 3 years from 1 January 2023, until 31 December 2025. The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is the statutory independent selection body for judicial appointments in the courts and tribunals of England and Wales, and for some UK-wide tribunals. The Chair is appointed by His Majesty the King on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor...

Helen Pitcher OBE is currently chair of the: Criminal Case Review Commission: the Public Chairs Forum and; Advanced Boardroom Excellence Ltd. Ms Pitcher holds two Non-Executive roles: C and C Group and; UB UK (part of Yildz Holdings). Prior to this Ms Pitcher was: Chairman of Pladis Global between 2015-19; the Queen’s Counsel Selection Panel between 2009-17 and; Director at Saville Group PLC between 2008-13.

From today (4 January 2023) prosecutors can deal with non-imprisonable cases involving companies without the need to go to court...

For companies, non-imprisonable cases are for lesser offences, such as:

• excess vehicle weight
• lack of or incorrect operator’s licence
• tachograph offences
• failure to give identification of a driver

This change will help to move cases for minor offences out of the courtroom and is an extension of the Single Justice Procedure (SJP)...

Police are searching for a man after he leapt out of a crown court dock and fled after being sentenced for actual bodily harm. Nicholas Bunclark bolted from Liverpool crown court on Tuesday after a judge gave him a 16-month jail term. He had denied an assault in 2021. Merseyside police issued an appeal with his mugshot, hoping people will come forward to pass on information...

Bunclark, from Netherton in Merseyside, initially buried his head in his hands after being handed his sentence. However, the Liverpool Echo reported that afterwards, following a brief chat with his mother, he wrestled out of officers’ grasp, vaulted the unsecured dock, and fled the courtroom.