Scrapping jury trials for some offences may be only way to clear court backlog, says CPS watchdog chief
“Removing the right to trial by jury” and “intermediate courts” may be the only way to clear the crown court backlog in England and Wales, the chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate has said.
Speaking exclusively to Sky News, Anthony Rogers says “radical action” is needed urgently.
“The number of cases waiting to be heard in the crown courts is the highest it’s ever been.
“It’s bringing significant pressure into the whole system. Those we inspect, the Crown Prosecution Service, are under the greatest pressure I’ve ever seen in 25 years of the existence of the inspectorate.
“The thing that worries me more is I can’t see an end to it. I can only see an increasing backlog.”
There are 73,105 outstanding criminal cases waiting to be dealt with in the crown courts, according to the Ministry of Justice.
Mr Rogers says: “If you’re going to fix a problem on this scale, it needs a radical solution.
“It could be anything from removing the right of election to jury trial.
“It could be looking at an intermediate court between the magistrates court and the crown court, radical could literally mean changing the way that we look at the criminal justice system.”
Anthony Rogers, the chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, speaks to Sky’s Ashna Hurynag
Both suggestions are being considered under a ‘once-in-a-generation’ independent review announced by the government last week.
Former High Court judge Sir Brian Leveson is leading the major justice review in an effort to tackle the delays.
The government says “nothing is off the table” as jury trials could be scrapped for some offences and “intermediate” middle-tier courts, made up of a judge and two magistrates, are being looked at.
Both are suggestions Mr Rogers says he would support.
“If you did that you would take 20,000 or 30,000 cases out of the backlog.
“You could start by having the simplest cases in the magistrate court, the more serious cases with probably a judge and two lay members in an intermediate court and then have the crown court reserved for the most serious offences like rape, murder, manslaughter, terrorism for example. That is radical, that would solve the problem.”
‘It was like the court was a circus and he was the ringmaster’
It’s a problem Vicki Crawford knows all too well.
Ms Crawford reported historic sexual abuse to the police in 2018. She reached out to Sky News after she waited five years and eight months for her trial to go ahead.
A gruelling wait, she bravely opened up about it.
“With every hearing and every court date, I was nervous and anxious. I had a headache, I felt sick, I couldn’t sleep. The run up to it was awful. I had nightmares. In the middle of the night, I would wake up having panic attacks. I just couldn’t eat, I just felt awful.”
Vicki Crawford, who has waived her right to anonymity, says her case took almost six years from reporting to sentencing
Ms Crawford’s abuser was jailed for seven years after the trial eventually went ahead in March this year.
She explained to Sky News it felt like he was profiting from the constant adjournments, while she was being tortured by it.
“It was like the court was a circus and he was the ringmaster.”
On at least one occasion the trial was adjourned because her perpetrator claimed to be unwell.
“For me, it felt like he had a lot of control over what was going on during the court process. And it was quite frustrating to watch somebody consistently say I can’t come to court today. For such a serious load of charges, I couldn’t quite understand how he was allowed to get away with that, like so many times.”
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As a survivor of sexual abuse, Ms Crawford is entitled to anonymity for life but told us her reason for waiving it.
“The reason I’m waiving my anonymity is because there are thousands of people just like me, look like me, talk like me, think like me, have the same experiences that I’m having in the court system. And nobody puts a face to those people, so, this is me.”
Watchdog warned of delays since 2019
Mr Rogers told Sky News that inspectors have been warning about delays since 2019.
The crisis in the criminal justice system is mirrored in almost every crown court in England and Wales.
In Leicester, Sky News spent time with barristers and court staff and observed delay after delay.
We heard from a judge so exasperated at cases being pushed back to 2026, witnessed crumbling court infrastructure, spoke to barristers fed up with constant adjournments and spoke to victims stuck in the middle.
An overhaul of the criminal justice system is coming – and for many, it can’t come soon enough.
Liverpool have won the Premier League title after a 5-1 victory over Tottenham at Anfield.
Arne Slot’s men did it in impressive style, turning over Spurs in a convincing win.
It was a rocky start for the Reds after Dominic Solanke put the north London side ahead.
However, fortunes quickly changed in the first half as Liverpool scored three times without a response.
Captain Virgil van Dijk (centre) celebrates. Pic: Reuters
Salah on his knees in celebration after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott (below) and Jarell Quansah celebrate after full-time. Pic: PA
Slot cheers after the full-time whistle. Pic: AP
In the second half, it took until the 63rd minute for Mohamed Salah to make it 4-1 before a fifth followed.
The Reds have won the title in manager Arne Slot’s first season in charge, and move level with fierce rivals Manchester United on 20 league championships.
But it makes them arguably the most successful English club ever as they have won more European Cup or Champions League titles.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told Sky Sports after the final whistle: “It’s special and it’s something that we don’t take for granted. It’s amazing.
“A lot of emotions before the game, during the whole week, but we got the job done and we (are) truly deserved champions of England. (Liverpool is) the most beautiful club in the world and I think we deserve all of this. Let’s enjoy the next couple of weeks and let it sink in.”
Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas poses with a Premier League trophy cut out. Pic: Reuters
Manager Arne Slot and his team after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Slot took over last summer from Jurgen Klopp, who guided them to their previous and maiden Premier League title triumph in 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown saw matches played behind closed doors.
He is the first Dutch manager to win the Premier League and the fifth man to do so in a debut campaign after Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini, and Antonio Conte.
Speaking to Sky Sports he said: “They [the players] did an outstanding job today. The main job was to win. Everyone said we had got it already. But we had to make sure and we got over the line.”
Several players, including Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, and Mohamed Salah, played leading roles in both the 2025 and 2020 campaigns.
Van Dijk and Salah recently signed new contracts extending their careers at the club.
Mohamed Salah takes a selfie with fans after scouring the fourth Liverpool goal. Pic: AP
Fans at Anfield during the game. Pic: AP
Fans in the stands at Anfield before full-time. Pic: Reuters
Liverpool will have to wait until the final game of the season – at home to Crystal Palace on 25 May – to be presented with the Premier League trophy.
It will be the first time the club’s fans will have seen their side lift the top-flight title in person since 1990.
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Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.
The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.
A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.
The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.
Pic: LNP
They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.
A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.
Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.
There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.
More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.
Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.
Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
Read more:
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Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform
Pic: LNP
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.
“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”
The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.
The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.
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