If you have recently experienced a delay in a criminal court please take a moment to leave a short reply below which explains:
(1) How long the delay was;
(2) When and in which court it happened;
(3) What caused the delay;
(4) The case name, if disclosable (please respect any reporting restrictions which may be in place).
It’s up to you what information you post about yourself of course, but be aware that anonymous replies will carry less weight than replies from identifiable and credible sources.
If you would prefer not to have your reply (or part of your reply) posted here but you still want to inform us of a delay (or matters relating to a delay) which you have experienced, please send us an email at courtdelays@5kbw.co.uk and we will treat it in confidence.
Please do try to ensure the accuracy of any information provided as the purpose of this exercise will be frustrated if the Ministry of Justice is presented with unreliable data.
Many thanks,
The South Eastern Circuit
Court Delays 
Highbury Magistrates Court today- trial listed for 2pm, both parties ready, all witness present, adjourned (without having started) due to “lack of court time”. This is becoming increasingly common. Once again , a “cracked trial” form completed- reason=lack of court time- does anyone know what happens to those forms? Do they not read them, or just not act on them?!
Norwich CC 11.11.13
10.30 multi-handed sentence in a drugs conspiracy. Listed @10.30 Court tells us that “there has been a bit of a cockup” and prisoners from Peterborough are not expected until 11.30. Assuming they arrive at that time, by the time counsel have seen their clients we will have lost at least 1 1/2 hours.
Portuguese national arrested for drink-driving in Barnsley on Saturday evening, 5th October. Kept in custody after charge to appear before Magistrates’ Court on Monday 7th. No interpreter. Adjourned to following day and bailed to enable interpreter to attend. No interpreter Tuesday. Adjourned to Friday 25th October to enable interpreter to attend. No interpreter that day either. Defendant travelled to court by train from Birmingham where he now lives and works. Train fare £45 and a day’s wages lost. Case now out to 15th November for interpreter to attend. No Legal Aid or other arrangement for payment yet in force due to language difficulties.
Southwark Crown Court
6.11, 7.11, 8.11
R -v- Lee Cyrus
Court 10
Water came flooding through the ceiling at Southwark CC yesterday at about 12pm from the top floor causing the fire alarm to go off and the entire building to have to be vacated. The building has been shut down until Monday 11.11.13 when the situation will be assessed. Every trial in the building has been put on hold for three days. Some of these significant trials may well have to be abandoned altogether because juries may not now be able to sit for the extra amount of time the cases will now take.
Cause – failure of the Government, presumably the MoJ, to maintain the court estate adequately.
Not at fault in any way – any of the barristers involved.
Christopher Amis
Contracts on the cheap by the MOJ. Power in canteen at Blackfriars CC out since Thursday and will not be looked at until Tuesday. Apparently MOJ only have “silver” contracts for court repairs, meaning it is not an immediate priority.
Wonder what colour the contract is for MOJ’s own offices…reckon gold or platinum myself.
R v Thompson – Lewes Crown Court- 30/10/13. Case listed as a floater with no witnesses to attend. List office had been told prior to the listing that the defendant was unwell and would not attend (hence listed ‘no witnesses’). List office told at 11.30am that the trial was ineffective due to Ds ill health. List officer would not speak to us in person. Further requests to get the case mentioned at 12.50 and 2.40 met with Irreverence. Case called on at 4.18pm to stand out. Fee earned for preparation of a trial, travel to Lewes and 5 hours waiting £45.00 (£36 after clerks fees, gross).
The cynic might pass comment that the only case that did not face delay was privately funded, where the Crown would have been at risk on costs…
Of six trials listed in Aldershot on Friday 25th October, only one was ready to proceed on time… Lack of prosecutor, non compliance with Directions for disclosure, evidence having to be couriered for service on the day of trial despite two hearings where the Court directed the COS to serve within a timescale which was ignored… Usual Friday, really… Cuts in CPS result in “savings” for who…? Certainly not vulnerable witnesses and children involved in the proceedings… Disgraceful, but sadly quite typical…
Snaresbrook CC 23 & 24 Oct 2013 trial and Newton running together.
1. At PCMH in August court decided to run the trial and Newton together as victim is 15 y/o – giving evidence once is stressful enough!
2. First day of trial (October) court did not list the Newton. Therefore no defendant & no rep for that d attends! Delay = 2 hours.
3. Crown had DCS but had not responded so was able to use the 2 hour delay to sort out. Counsel and OIC sorted as no caseworker assigned to that court!
4. We get started at 2 pm, open and call a witness (out of turn and with agreement) as could not call complainant – his evidence in chief was an ABE and the system in court did not work nor did the video link for his cross-examination. We managed to keep going till 3:40 but then had to adjourn due to technical issues!
5. There was a brief discussion about complainant and using screens instead. Counsel for pros agreed to speak to him first thing in this regard.
5. Next morning everyone arrives in good time. We have moved courts but then we are moved back again. Counsel for pros speak to compliant – he prefers screens to link. Court informed before 10 am. At 10:45 am our scheduled start time no screens in court there follows at least 30 min delay while screens are located, set up and propped up as very wobbly with files and sentencing guidelines!
6. Complainant gives evidence and is released. Then we begin to dismantle the screens – another 30 mins delay.
So in two days we lost four + hours.
(1) Court sat, eventually, just before 11am
(2) Croydon Mags, Court 11, main remand court for bail, sentencing and over nights.
(3) No prosecutor then lack of files
(4) The whole list delayed.
R v a Youth & another
Delay: at least two weeks.
Warned list case at Kingston CC called in for trial on 21/10, to discover that a crucial police officer was on leave, but had not told the witness service. Re-listed for next warned list, two week delay
This meant that the late production of the defendant (listed 1030, eta 1530ish) wasn’t the main problem!
Chelmsford Crown Court. R v Watson on 21/10/13.
CPS failed to provide Court and prosecution counsel with any papers for a sentence hearing. The defence provided the bundle and there followed a 30 minute delay whilst the papers were photocopied and digested.
9 October 2013 Reading Magistrates’ Court.
I was not involved in this case and do not recall its name, but:
A solicitor made a detailed application to adjourn a trial for various reasons, including a lack of disclosure. The CPS case presented then announced that he was not qualified to deal with disclosure. The result was that the entire application had to be repeated in front of a new bench with a new CPS representative. Time wasted; about 15 minutes.
R v Osayande at Cambridge Crown Court, August and October 2013.
Probation failed to prepare the Pre-Sentence Report, stating they received no reply on the Prison Video Link on the one occasion they tried to contact the defendant. Probation did not notify the court of that fact and the sentence hearing was listed. All parties prepared for the hearing and travelled to Cambridge CC when the judge adjourned the hearing for lack of PSR. The case re-listed in October, by which time the PSR was available. The defendant received a sentence that he had already served by the date of the first (adjourned) sentence hearing. The effect of the delay caused by the Probation Service and/or prison is that:
1. The defendant spent many weeks in custody unnecessarily.
2. The taxpayer had to fund the cost of holding the defendant in custody for those extra weeks.
3. More than an hour of court time was lost.
4. The taxpayer had to fund counsel’s attendance at an aborted hearing.
R v Mukenge and Kibe at Reading Crown Court: about ½ day delay in total:
• 9 October 2013; 2 hour delay when defendant was produced late.
• 10 October 2013; 25 minute delay when the defendant was produced late: in addition to the lost court time, additional expense and inconvenience were caused because the delay led to an interpreter and witnesses having to attend for an extra day.
• 14 October 2013; 10 minute delay due to lack of dock officer.
• 17 October 2013: 25 minute delay when defendant was produced late.
18/10/2013
Guildford CC
Court 2
Court unable to deal with Custody cases as cells said they had insufficient staff to bring prisoners!
Thames Magistrates Court 2.10 pm. In a queue of 5 advocates waiting for court 2 to open. All have clients for sentence, all arrived in good time. Probation office closed from 1-2, and WILL NOT HAND OUT REPORTS WHICH MUST BE COLLECTED FROM COURT. Court still locked….
Despite police booking interp the night before court tolf no interpreter available until 15:30- as capiter had booked wrong tier of interp.After Judicial intervention a interp arrived at 14:00- the case was ready to be hward at 11:00.
Police had booked ab interpreter the night before so that when the Defendant was brought to Court on the grave charges the case coukd be sent to the Crown Court. Mid morning Court was told no interpreter was available until at least 15:30 because Capiter had booked the wrong tier of interpreter. After Judicial int
Driving case listed at Wilesden MC, IS requested adournment due to lack of crown disclosure. Case listed day before trial for an adjournment- refused, and charge changed from failure to provide specimen to Drink Drive- still no adjournment. Afternoon of trial, prosecutor agreed adjournment, however a lay bench, being directed by a legal advisor decided to keep us waiting until 4pm, then adjourned us, all because they were hearing a shop lifting trial over run from the morning. Although this could easily have been adjourned day before, or even at 2pm without much disruption.
Confiscation hearing. Listed for half day at 2pm. Fixed for months for trial counsel on both sides to argue remaining points. Def in custody in open prison. Refused permission to make his own way. Taken from Buckinghamshire via London to Ipswich. When Judge refused to wait any more the eta was 1545. Van turned around.