Criminal justice system ‘about to crack’ as prosecutors refuse work over low pay
The criminal justice system is “about to crack” with a record number of trials being aborted at the last minute because no one is available to prosecute them, the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has warned.
A fresh row is bubbling after the government agreed to boost legal aid fees by 15% in October in a bid to end defence barrister strikes.
The deal – made by Brandon Lewis during his brief stint as Justice Secretary under the Truss administration – has created a disparity of fees between defence advocates and prosecutors.
Most barristers in England and Wales are self-employed, meaning they can choose what side of the work to take.
Kirsty Brimelow KC, the chair of CBA, said prosecution barristers are “effectively striking” by refusing to take on cases for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and opting for defence work instead.
“A lot of barristers are saying they’re no longer going to prosecute, because they don’t want to be in a case where they are receiving 20% less than the person who’s defending,” she told Sky News.
“The CPS is finding that they’re ringing round hundreds of chambers and they still can’t find anyone to take the case to prosecute it, and I’ve come across that myself.”
‘The justice system is failing’
Ms Brimelow called the situation an “unprecedented crisis” that will hinder efforts to clear the crown courts backlog, which soared to record highs during the pandemic.
“It used to be unheard of that you would have trials that would be adjourned because you cannot find a barrister to prosecute, and now it’s pretty common.
“This impacts on delays as cases are bounced back sometimes for another year. It impacts on the trauma for witness complainants and it impacts upon defendants who are saying they’re not guilty and can’t get on with their lives either.
“So all around the justice system is failing.”
Kirsty Brimelow, chair of the Criminal Bar Association
The shortage is particularly being felt in rape and serious sexual assault offence cases (RASSO), which require barristers with special qualifications to prosecute.
‘Almost impossible’ to return rape trials
A senior barrister who prosecutes for the CPS said it is “becoming almost impossible” to return complex grade 4 trials “because so many grade 4s have just walked away”.
But one grade four RASSO barrister said: “Why would anyone now accept new CPS instructions? It means in 18 months time still working for already inadequate rates, can’t be done.”
Max Hill KC, the head of the CPS, has also backed calls to raise prosecution fees to address the shortage.
A government spokesperson said they are “working closely with the CPS to help make sure the criminal justice system can function effectively”.
“Spending Review settlements have been maintained and any requests for further funding will be considered by HMT in due course,” they added.
It provides a fresh headache for ministers as they come under mounting pressure to tackle the NHS crisis and wave of industrial unrest grinding the public sector to a halt.
Last month, the Ministry of Justice hailed “significant progress” since the government published its landmark rape review action plan, including a rise in rape charges and convictions.
But the CBA says while it is encouraging more cases are reaching court there has also been an “exponential rise” in RASSO trials being cancelled on the day due to a lack of staff and resources.
Official figures show that in the year to June 2022, 314 rape and serious sexual assault trials were “ineffective” – meaning they could not go ahead on the day – because of a lack of court rooms, judges, defence advocates or prosecution barristers, up from 109 in the previous year.
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The amount of prosecution “no-shows” were 15 times higher than the previous year and 10 times more than the yearly average for past seven years, according to the CBA analysis of the data.
Data for the most recent quarter has not been published, but the CBA say they are aware of a string of serious rape trials that were aborted last minute in December as no cover could be found for prosecution.
One example included a case in Newcastle involving a defendant in his 70s and several complainants – which has now been re-listed for July 2023.
Effect on victims and witnesses
James Oliveira-Agnew, a barrister who specialises in RASSO trials, raised concern about prosecutions being dropped if victims traumatised by long delays withdraw their support, and of unfair acquittals due to the effect of delays on witnesses’ memories.
Data from April to June 2022 suggests rape victims are already waiting an average of 1397 days – almost four years – for their cases to be complete, with the biggest increase in delay coming post charge.
Mr Oliveira-Agnew said he has cases in his diary for the middle of 2024 “because that’s the earliest time they can get things in” but there is no guarantee they will go ahead if prosecutors can’t be found.
“What we are seeing happening on the ground a lot now, which I have never seen before, is turning up on the day of the trial (defending), we will get a judge if we are lucky, the witnesses and everyone who is required but you won’t have a prosecutor.
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“If you’re a complainant, and something like this has happened to you and you build up everything and you come to court on that first morning, ready to have this traumatic experience to be told it’s cancelled, it’s soul destroying.”
Mr James Oliveira-Agnew said a barrister will earn £1,600 more defending a five-day rape trial than prosecuting it “so parity of fees is vital”.
‘A break down in trust’
He said the long-term consequence of not taking action will be a break down in trust of the justice system.
“If people don’t trust the justice system, people aren’t going to report crimes because they’re not going to see the point, and people are going to commit crimes because they’re going to get away with it.”
The government has introduced a raft of measures to speed up justice for victims and improve the system since the start of the pandemic, including lifting the cap on the number of days courts can sit on and quadrupling funding for victim support services to £192m a year by 2025.
But Ms Brimelow said: “The system is about to crack and there has to be urgent action of increasing the prosecution fees so that they achieve parity with the defence.
“Otherwise, it’s a total waste of resources piling in huge amounts of money into Victim Support, when the alleged offences are never going to see the inside of a Crown Court.”
Criminal barristers in England and Wales have entered an indefinite strike
A CPS spokesman said: “The criminal justice system depends on equality of arms between defence and prosecution.
“We are continuing to engage with Bar leaders regarding prosecution fees as we continue to use a mix of in-house and external advocates to meet our needs and support the provision of quality advocacy services.”
An aid worker in the central Gaza Strip has told Sky News the food situation in the enclave is “absolutely desperate” and “the worst it’s ever been”.
Her comments to Sky’s chief presenter Mark Austin come amid fresh international outcry over Israel’s restrictions on aid, as the UK has joined together with 24 other countries to say: “The war in Gaza must end now.”
Rachael Cummings, humanitarian director for Save The Children, is in Deir al Balah, a city in central Gaza where tens of thousands of people have sought refuge during repeated waves of mass displacement.
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She said: “One of my colleagues said to me yesterday, ‘We are all walking together towards death’. And this is the situation now for people in Gaza.
“There is no food for their children, it’s absolutely desperate here.”
Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen. Pic: Reuters
“The markets are empty,” she said. “People may even have cash in their pockets yet they cannot buy bread [or] vegetables.
“My team have said to me, ‘There’s nothing in my house to feed my children, my children are crying all day, every day.”
Israel launched a ground assault on Deir al Balah on Monday morning, another charity said earlier.
Smoke rises during strikes amid the Israeli operation in Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters
Ms Cummings’s comments came as the UK and 24 other nations issued a joint statement calling for a ceasefire.
The statement criticised aid distribution in Gaza, which is being managed by a US and Israel-backed organisation, Gaza Health Foundation.
“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” it said.
The 25 countries also called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of hostages captured by Hamas during the 7 October 2023 attacks.
Lammy promises £40m for Gaza aid
Foreign Secretary David Lammy later promised £40m for humanitarian assistance in Gaza.
He told MPs: “We are leading diplomatic efforts to show that there must be a viable pathway to a Palestinian state involving the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, in the security and governance of the area.
“Hamas can have no role in the governance of Gaza, nor use it as a launchpad for terrorism.”
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Addressing the foreign secretaries’ joint written statement, charity worker Liz Allcock – who works for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) in Gaza – told Sky News: “While we welcome this, there have been statements in the past 21 months and nothing has changed.
“In fact, things have only got worse. And every time we think it can’t get worse, it does.”
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“Without a reversal of the siege, the lack of supplies, the constant bombardment, the forced displacement, the killing, the militarisation of aid, we are going to collapse as a humanitarian response,” she said.
“And this would do a grave injustice to the 2.2 million people we’re trying to serve.
“An immediate and permanent ceasefire, and avenues for accountability in line with international law, is the minimum people here deserve.”
The war in Gaza started in response to Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people and saw about 250 taken hostage.
More than 59,000 Palestinians have since been killed, with more than half being women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
In recent weeks hundreds of Palestinians have reportedly been killed while waiting for food and aid.
The Israeli military has blamed Hamas militants for fomenting chaos and endangering civilians.
At least 19 people have died after a Bangladesh air force plane crashed into a college campus, the military said.
The aircraft crashed into the campus of Milestone School and College in Uttara, in the northern area of the capital Dhaka, where students were taking tests or attending regular classes.
The pilot was one of the people killed, and, according to the military, 164 were injured in the incident.
The Bangladesh military’s public relations department added that the aircraft was an F-7 BGI, and had taken off at 1.06pm local time before crashing shortly after.
Video shows fire and smoke rising from the crash site, with hundreds looking on.
Pics: Reuters
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.
Bengali-language daily newspaper Prothom Alo said that most of the injured were students with burn injuries.
Pics: Reuters
Citing the duty officer at the fire service control room, Prothom Alo also reported that the plane had crashed on the roof of the college canteen.
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Rafiqa Taha, a 16-year-old student at the school who was not present at the time of the crash, told the Associated Press that the school has around 2,000 students.
“I was terrified watching videos on TV,” she added. “My God! It’s my school.”
World
Homes burning after mass pillaging and 30,000 trapped in besieged city – as Syria’s fragile ceasefire holds
The main road entering the besieged Syrian city of Sweida from the west has changed dramatically over 12 hours.
A bulldozer, parked on the side of the road, has been used to create several berms to form a sand barrier around 25km (16 miles) from the city centre.
Dozens of Syrian security forces were standing in lines in front of the barricades when we arrived, and there were forces further up the road stopping vehicles from going any further.
Syrian security forces at a checkpoint outside the besieged city
The Arab tribal fighters we’d seen fighting furiously inside the city the day before were now all camped alongside the road. Some were sleeping on the back of their pick-ups.
“We’re not giving up,” one shouted to us as we walked towards the checkpoint.
The ceasefire agreement between Druze leaders who are bunkered down inside the city and the Bedouins – and the tribal fighters who have flocked to join them – has frustrated some.
Some of them, waiting with guns slung over their backs, are itching to return to battle. But for now, tribal leaders have instructed them to hold fire.
Read more: Who are the Druze and who are they fighting in Syria?
Arab tribal fighters have been blocked from entering Sweida by security forces
How long that will last is probably key to Syria’s future and whether it can be a peaceful one.
Khalaf al Modhi, the head of a group of tribes called United Tribes, told the group of fighters: “We are not against the Druze. We are not here to kill the Druze.”
But he spent many minutes castigating the senior Druze cleric inside Sweida whom many of the tribes see as the agitator behind the violent clashes.
Khalaf al Modhi, who is the leader of a tribal group called United Tribes
Hikmat al Hijiri is head of a Druze faction that is deeply suspicious of the new government led by Ahmed al Sharaa and is resisting ceding power to Damascus.
The retreat of the Arab tribes from the city centre means the Druze militia under Hijiri’s control are now the ones deciding who goes in or out of the city.
About 30,000 mostly Druze people are thought to be trapped inside the city and surrounding towns, with no electricity, little internet and dwindling supplies of food and water.
Druze civilian Kamal Tarrabey. He said 10 of his relatives were killed in the violent clashes
The humanitarian situation is dramatically worsening by the day. But at the time of writing, there were still no agreed safe corridors to bring out those pinned inside.
On top of this, there are nearly 130,000 people displaced and forced out of their homes because of the fighting, according to UN estimates.
Maintaining the ceasefire is key to ensuring solutions are found to help those suffering, and quickly. It’s also the most serious challenge facing the new Syrian leader and his interim government.
The level of distrust between the Hijiri-led Druze faction and the new government is strong and deep. So much so that the Druze leaders have refused to accept truckloads of aid organised by any of the government outlets.
The White Helmets wait outside Sweida as the Druze leaders accept little aid from them due to their government connections
The new Syrian leader has struggled to convince the country’s minorities that their safety under his leadership is assured.
Druze civilians and human rights activists reported mass killings and executions of Druze by government troops who were sent in last week to quell the latest clashes between the Druze and Arab Bedouins who have been at odds for many years.
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Government forces pulled out of the city only after Israel unleashed a spate of airstrikes, saying they were defending the Druze. The bombings killed hundreds of Syrian troops.
But with the withdrawal of the government troops, the Arab Bedouin population said the city’s Druze militia embarked on a string of revenge atrocities.
That in turn led to thousands of tribal fighters massing from around the country to defend their Arab brethren.
Smoke rises from buildings in the city centre of Sweida
When we were inside the city, we saw multiple corpses lying on the streets, and many appeared to have been killed with a shot to the head.
Homes and businesses are still burning after mass pillaging as fighters retreated.
And now, there is a growing humanitarian disaster unfolding.
Additional reporting by camera operator Garwen McLuckie, specialist producer Chris Cunningham, as well as Syrian producers Mahmoud Mossa and Ahmed Rahhal.
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