Diane’s husband was killed by a reckless driver – the wait for justice was almost as painful
Diane Gall’s husband, Martyn, had been out on a morning bike ride with his friends on their usual route one winter morning in November 2020 – when he was killed by a reckless driver.
Diane and her daughters had to wait almost three years for her husband’s case to be heard in court.
The case was postponed three times, often without warning.
“You just honestly lose faith in the system,” she says.
“You feel there’s a system there that should be there to help and protect victims, to be victims’ voices, but the constant delays really take their toll on individuals and us as a family.”
Diane Gall’s husband, Martyn
The first trial date in April 2022 was cancelled on the day and pushed four months later.
The day before the new date, the family were told it wasn’t going ahead due to the barristers’ strike.
It was moved to November 2022, then postponed again, before eventually being heard in June the following year.
“You’re building yourself up for all these dates, preparing yourself for what you’re going to hear, reliving everything that has happened, and it’s retraumatising,” says Diane.
Diane Gall and Sky correspondent Ashna Hurynag
‘Radical’ reform needed
Diane’s wait for justice gives us an insight into what thousands of victims and their families are battling every day in a court system cracking under the weight of a record-high backlog.
There are 76,957 cases waiting to be heard in Crown Courts across England and Wales, as of the end of March 2025.
To relieve pressure on the system, an independent review by Sir Brian Leveson last month made a number of recommendations – including creating a new division of the Crown Court known as an intermediate court, made up of a judge and two magistrates, and allowing defendants to choose to be tried by judge alone.
He said only “radical” reform would have an impact.
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Will court reforms tackle backlog?
But according to exclusive data collected for Sky News by the Law Society, there is strong scepticism among the industry about some proposed plans.
Before the review was published, we asked 545 criminal lawyers about the idea of a new tier to the Crown Court – 60% of them told us a type of Intermediate Court was unlikely to reduce the backlog.
“It’s moving a problem from one place to another, like moving the deck chairs on the Titanic. It’s not going to do anything,” says Stuart Nolan, chair of the Law Society’s criminal law committee.
“I think the problem with it is lack of resources or lack of will to give the proper resources.
“You can say we need more staff, but they’re not just any staff, they are people with experience and training, and that doesn’t come quickly or cheap.”
Instead, the lawyers told us creating an additional court would harm the quality of justice.
Chloe Jay, senior partner at Shentons Solicitors, agrees the quality of justice will be impacted by a new court division that could sit without a jury for some offences.
She says: “The beauty of the Crown Court is that you have two separate bodies, one deciding the facts and one deciding law.
Casey Jenkins, president of London Criminal Court Solicitors’ Association
“So the jury doesn’t hear the legal arguments about what evidence should be excluded, whether something should be considered as part of the trial, and that’s what really gives you that really good, sound quality of justice, because you haven’t got one person making all the decisions together.
“Potentially in an intermediate court, that is what will happen. The same three people will hear those legal arguments and make the finding of guilt or innocence.”
The most striking finding from the survey is that 73% of criminal lawyers surveyed are worried about offences no longer sitting in front of a jury.
Casey Jenkins, president of London Criminal Court Solicitors’ Association, says this could create unconscious bias.
“There’s a real risk that people from minority backgrounds are negatively impacted by having a trial by a judge and not a jury of their peers who may have the same or similar social background to them,” she says.
“A jury trial is protection against professional judicial decisions by the state. It’s a fundamental right that can be invoked.”
Instead of moving some offences to a new Crown Court tier, our survey suggests criminal lawyers would be more in favour of moving cases to the magistrates instead.
Under the Leveson proposals, trials for offences such as dangerous driving, possessing an offensive weapon and theft could be moved out of the Crown Courts.
‘Catastrophic consequences’
Richard Atkinson, president of the Law Society, says fixing the system will only work with fair funding.
“It’s as important as the NHS, it’s as important as the education system,” he says. “If it crumbles, there will be catastrophic consequences.”
Ms Jenkins agrees that for too long the system has been allowed to fail.
“Everyone deserves justice, this is just not the answer,” she says.
“It’s just the wrong solution to a problem that was caused by chronic, long-term under-investment in the criminal justice system, which is a vital public service.
“The only way to ensure that there’s timely and fair justice for everybody is to invest in all parts of the system from the bottom up: local services, probation, restorative justice, more funding for lawyers so we can give early advice, more funding for the police so that cases are better prepared.”
Government vows ‘bold and ambitious reform’
In response to Sky News’ findings, the minister for courts and legal services, Sarah Sackman KC MP, told Sky News: “We inherited a record and rising court backlog, leaving many victims facing unacceptable delays to see justice done.
“We’ve already boosted funding in our courts system, but the only way out of this crisis is bold and ambitious reform. That is why we are carefully considering Sir Brian’s bold recommendations for long-term change.
“I won’t hesitate to do whatever needs to be done for the benefit of victims.”
The driver that killed Diane’s husband was eventually convicted. She wants those making decisions about the court system to remember those impacted the most in every case.
Every victim and every family.
“You do just feel like a cog in a big wheel that’s out of your control,” she says. “Because you know justice delayed is justice denied.”
Police have made 200 arrests in London after crowds turned out for a Palestine Action demonstration – despite the group being banned.
Organisers Defend Our Juries said up to 700 people were at the event in Parliament Square and claimed police were preparing for the “largest mass arrest in their history”.
The group said those arrested included former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg, NHS workers, quakers and a blind wheelchair user.
The Metropolitan Police said a “significant number of people” were seen “displaying placards expressing support for Palestine Action, which is a proscribed group”.
“We have now made 200 arrests in Parliament Square this afternoon,” the force wrote in a post on X.
In an earlier post, it wrote: “While many of those remaining in the square are media and onlookers, there are still people holding placards supporting Palestine Action. Officers are steadily working through the crowd making further arrests.”
An aerial view of Parliament Square
Protesters write on placards for the Lift the Ban campaign rally on Saturday. Pic: PA
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What does proscribing a group mean?
Legislation to proscribe Palestine Action came into force on 5 July, making it a criminal offence to show support for the organisation, carrying a prison sentence of up to 14 years.
Defend Our Juries announced the protest would go ahead earlier this week despite the ban, following several other similar demonstrations since the proscription last month.
On Saturday, a spokesperson for the group said that “Palestine Action and people holding cardboard signs present no danger to the public at large”.
A woman is dragged away by police officers after attending the Palestine Action protest in Parliament Square. Pic: PA
Three people have been charged as a result of illegal Palestine Action activity.
Jeremy Shippam, 71, of West Sussex, Judit Murray, also 71, of Surrey, and Fiona Maclean, 53, of Hackney in east London, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 16 September.
Another march organised by the Palestine Coalition, which is a separate group, set off from Russell Square and assembled on Whitehall.
The Met Police said one person had been arrested there for showing a placard in support of the Palestine Action.
A man is detained by police officers in Parliament Square. Pic: PA
Crowds had assembled in Parliament Square by 1pm, with people seen writing “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action” on placards.
Many remained silent while others sang pro-Palestine chants.
A Home Office spokesperson said in a previous statement: “The Home Secretary has been clear that the proscription of Palestine Action is not about Palestine, nor does it affect the freedom to protest on Palestinian rights.
“It only applies to the specific and narrow organisation whose activities do not reflect or represent the thousands of people across the country who continue to exercise their fundamental rights to protest on different issues.”
The ban faces a legal challenge in November after the High Court granted a full judicial review to Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori.
The Department for Work and Pensions will launch an independent review into its handling of prosecutions against Post Office staff, Sky News has learned.
About 100 prosecutions were carried out by the DWP between 2001 and 2006 during the Horizon IT scandal.
The “independent assurance review”, however, is yet to be commissioned and will not look at individual cases.
It comes more than a year after Sky News discovered joint investigations between the Post Office and the DWP during the scandal – leading to suggestions some may be “tainted”.
Hundreds of subpostmasters were wrongfully convicted of stealing by the Post Office between 1999 and 2015, due to the faulty Horizon IT system.
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What did we learn from the Post Office inquiry?
The DWP told Sky News they have “committed” to commissioning the review into prosecutions led by the department, where Post Office staff were investigated for “welfare-related fraud”.
They described cases as “complex investigations” which they said were “backed by evidence including filmed surveillance, stolen benefit books and witness statements”.
They also added that “to date no documentation has been identified showing that Horizon data was essential to these prosecutions”.
The review will look at a period of time spanning 20 years covered by the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024, from September 1996 to December 2018.
The Horizon Act was effectively blanket exoneration legislation which automatically quashed Post Office convictions but did not include DWP or Capture-related prosecutions.
Roger Allen
The family of Roger Allen, who was convicted in 2004 of stealing pension payments by the DWP and sentenced to six months in prison, are “frustrated” the review won’t look at his or other cases.
Mr Allen died in March last year, still trying to clear his name.
Keren Simpson, his daughter, describes the review as a “development” but a “fob off”.
“I think it’s just getting us off their backs,” she said, “I’ll believe it when I see it because they’re not taking any accountability.
“They’re not acknowledging anything. They’re denying everything.
“No one’s saying, look, we really need to dig in and have a look at all these cases to see if there’s the same pattern here.”
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‘Everyday life was a struggle’ – former sub-postmistress
Mr Allen pleaded guilty to spare his wife – after his lawyer told him in a letter that there had been “an indication from the Crown that they may discontinue the proceedings against Mrs Allen were you minded to plead guilty”.
Despite the Criminal Cases Review Commission deciding Mr Allen had grounds to appeal against his conviction, it was upheld by the Court of Appeal in 2021.
The independent review will look at the “methodology and processes” used by the DWP, and the “thoroughness and adequacy” of efforts to obtain case documents.
The DWP say that the review won’t be commenting on individual cases or those that have been dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
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Post Office: The lost ‘Capture’ files
Potential reviewers will also be approached with experience “outside of the civil service”.
They will be asked to produce a report with recommendations for any further actions within six months of starting their review.
Lawyer Neil Hudgell, instructed by some of those prosecuted, described the review as “wholly inadequate”, saying the DWP “should not be marking its own homework.”
“Any involvement in the process of appointing reviewers undermines all confidence in the independence of the process,” he added.
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‘All we want is her name cleared’
He also criticised the DWP’s statement as “strikingly defensive and closed minded”.
“It cannot be anything approaching rigorous or robust without a proper case by case review of all affected cases, including those dismissed by the Court of Appeal.”
He said that where hundreds of convictions were quashed “at the stroke of a pen” a proper and “targeted” review is “the least these poor victims are owed.”
“At the moment there is a widespread feeling among the group that they have been “left behind and that is both legally and morally wrong.”
A Freedom of Information request to the Department of Work and Pensions by Sky News has also found that most cases they prosecuted involved encashment of stolen benefit payment order books.
In response to questions over how many prosecutions involved guilty pleas with no trial, the DWP said the information had been destroyed “in accordance with departmental records management practices” and in line with data protection.
A 15-year-old boy has been found guilty of the murder of Sheffield schoolboy Harvey Willgoose.
Harvey, also 15, was killed by a fellow student outside their school cafeteria in February this year.
His parents, Mark and Caroline Willgoose, have told Sky News that school knife crime is “a way of life for kids”.
The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had brought a 13cm hunting knife with him into All Saints Catholic High School, Sheffield, stabbing Harvey twice in the chest just a few minutes into the lunch break.
The boy had previously admitted manslaughter but denied murder. He was found guilty by a jury on Friday.
Harvey and his father
His defence told the court the defendant had “lost control”, stabbing Harvey after years of bullying and “an intense period of fear at school”.
Moments after stabbing Harvey, he told teachers, “you know I can’t control it” and “I’m not right in the head”.
Giving evidence, the boy told the court he had no recollection of the moment he killed Harvey, something the prosecution said was “a lie”.
They told the jury the schoolboy “wanted to show he was hard” and had become “obsessed” with weapons in the lead up to Harvey’s death, with photographs of him posing with knives found on his phone.
Chris Hartley, of the Crown Prosecution Service, expressed the organisation’s “huge sympathies” for Harvey’s family and friends.
“The CPS and South Yorkshire Police were able to prove that the defendant did not lose self-control but intended to deliberately attack 15-year-old Harvey,” he said in a statement after the verdict.
“We remind teenagers that there can be horrendous and serious consequences of carrying knives. It has been proven that if you carry these weapons, you are more likely to use them or be a victim of knife crime. You are putting yourself, other people and your future at risk. Please stop carrying knives and stop putting lives in danger.”
Harvey Willgoose and his mother
Speaking to Sky News ahead of today’s verdict, Harvey’s mother, Caroline Willgoose, said she felt she had “led [her son] into the lion’s den”.
She said Harvey was a “school avoider” who had “anxiety” about going to school.
“We badgered Harvey into going to school but I don’t think people realise that there is a problem in all schools with knives,” says Mrs Willgoose.
“It’s a way of life now for kids, and it needs to stop.”
During the trial, it was revealed that the defendant had had previous violent outbursts at school, and, a few months before Harvey was stabbed, the school had called the police when the defendant’s mother contacted them to say she had found a weapon in her son’s bag at home.
Harvey’s parents told Sky News’ Katerina Vittozzi they feel that the school did not take previous knife-related incidents “seriously enough” and felt “100%” the outcome might have been different if they had.
The head of St Clare Catholic Multi Academy Trust – a group of schools including All Saints – also told Sky News Harvey’s death “was an unimaginable tragedy for all”.
Steve Davies said: “We think especially of Harvey’s family, loved ones and friends today. We cannot begin to imagine the immeasurable impact the loss of Harvey has had on them.
“Harvey was a much-loved, positive and outgoing pupil whose memory will be cherished by all who knew him. As a community, we have been devastated by his death, and we continue to think of him every day.”
He added: “Harvey’s death was an unimaginable tragedy for all, and one that understandably gives rise to a number of questions from his family and others.
“Now that the trial has finished, a number of investigations aimed at addressing and answering these questions will be able to proceed.
“We will engage fully and openly with them to help ensure every angle is considered and no key questions are left unresolved.”
Describing her son as “a character” who “never stopped smiling, never stopped singing”, Mrs Willgoose said she was now campaigning for “all schools and colleges” to use knife arches.
“I want people to go into schools and talk about the devastation of what knife crime does.”
In an emotional interview with Sky News’ Katerina Vittozzi, Mrs Willgoose said she felt her son was “put here for a reason” and “I can’t let go until I put things right for him”.
“There’s no winners when it comes to knife crime,” she said.
The defendant “has ruined his life, his parent have got an empty bed”, she added. “He’s got to live with this for the rest of his life.”
Harvey’s father, Mark Willgoose, said that his son had had “a short life, but a good life”.
“He crammed everything in, and you’ve just got to try and see the positives in that,” Mr Willgoose added.
“Whatever happens in court, it’ll never be justice. It’ll never be enough.
“I think we’ve just got to make sure Harvey’s death is not going to be in vain, and if whatever we do saves one life, then it’s been worth us doing it.”
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