Issue 349  8th June 2024

The Bar Council's manifesto for justice makes the case for change and sets out 8 recommendations needed for reform and investment across the justice sector for the next government.

1. Establish a Royal Commission on the criminal justice system
2. Ensure that Crown Court trials have a start date within six months of the first hearing
3. Invest to secure a sustainable and resilient justice system that commands public trust and confidence
4. Recognise the courts as a vital public service that is the foundation stone of a good society – just like schools and hospitals
5. Support communities by providing easily accessible and trusted early legal advice – online and locally
6. Ensure access to justice by widening the scope of legal aid eligibility across civil, family and crime
7. Uphold, respect, and promote the rule of law
8. Promote the Bar’s position as an internationally respected world leader and recognise the value of legal services

The next government must axe delays to jury trials and commit £2.48bn in extra spending to prevent “structural failure” in the criminal justice system, barristers have said. The Bar Council is lobbying for a Royal Commission on the whole criminal justice system in the next Parliament, to fix the record backlog of cases, overcrowded prisons, and rampant delays in cases getting to trial.

In its “Manifesto for Justice”, published on Tuesday, the organisation said justice policy has hit a “dead end” and it issued an eight-point plan for reform. The major political parties have been challenged to commit to cut delays in Crown Court trials down to just six months... The Bar Council, which represents barristers across England and Wales, wants a promise that Crown Court trials will be listed to start within six months of the first hearing. The manifesto demands that justice is placed alongside health and education in the political pecking order, as a “vital public service” and a “foundation stone of a good society”.

The director of a prison where 10 inmates have died in the last three months has stepped down. Heather Whitehead took over the running of the HMP Parc in Bridgend in August 2023. Her departure with immediate effect was "not in response to one single incident”, security firm G4S, which runs the private prison said. Ten inmates have died at the prison since 27 February and three prisoners were also taken to hospital following disorder at the prison on Friday. Will Styles, who has been with G4S for a year running HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire, has been appointed as the new director...

At least four of the deaths are believed to be drug-related, while one prison staff member has been arrested in connection with drug dealing there. South Wales Police said in March that a Nitazene - a synthetic opioid drug - had been identified in connection with all four deaths. The force said spice, another synthetic drug, had been identified in two of the four deaths...

A man has been jailed for three years for assaulting a judge during a hearing in a family court case in an incident which raised national concerns about court security. His Honour Judge Patrick Perusko was reportedly ‘pinned down’ and repeatedly punched in the head by a man who cannot be named. The father of two children involved in the case threw a radiator at the judge at Milton Keynes Family Court, the Daily Telegraph reports today. It involved an incident in November last year, during which Judge Perusko was forced to leave the court twice amid verbal abuse from the 41-year-old businessman...

The defendant was later arrested. He was jailed for three years by Mr Justice Goss at Southwark Crown Court (pictured above) on Wednesday for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage and for using threatening or abusive language in a separate incident against Recorder Dharmesh Patel, after taking ‘umbrage’ with a decision that judge made in July last year...