Justice system on brink of collapse, barrister says

A leading barrister has warned that defendants who face serious charges, such as rape, could walk free because the justice system is in "chaos".

Peter Joyce KC has prosecuted or defended several hundred alleged murderers and sex abusers over a career spanning 56 years.

He says years of under-investment has turned the justice system into "a shambles" - and he is worried the criminal justice system is "on the brink of collapse".

A Ministry of Justice (MoJ) spokesperson said: "This government inherited a record and rising courts backlog – that's why we've asked Sir Brian Leveson to propose once-in-a-generation reform to deliver swifter justice for victims."

Sir Brian Leveson, a retired High Court judge, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme "radical" steps would need to be taken to tackle the "crisis", which has seen cases added to the criminal justice system "faster than they can be removed".

Figures released by the MoJ show 73,105 trials were unheard at the end of September, almost double the number in 2019.

Mr Joyce led the prosecution of Frank Beck, one of Britain's most notorious sex offenders, who was convicted in 1991 of abusing children in his care at Leicestershire children's homes.

He also prosecuted the killers of 14-year-old Danielle Beccan, who was shot as she walked home from Nottingham's Goose Fair in 2004.

Mr Joyce spoke to the BBC after it emerged that several crown courtrooms in Nottingham were closed in January because of leaks and broken heating.

Her Honour Judge Shant KC, the Honorary Recorder of Nottingham, appealed for patience as her staff struggled to list cases in "very challenging circumstances" in an email to staff later the same month.

Mr Joyce says he is very worried about a system that is "in chaos", adding: "We have a building that's broken.

"Trials go off. Trials don't happen."

Speaking about the situation as temperatures dropped in January, he said prisoners could not be brought into the building because the cell area was too cold.

"That's pathetic, because the heating doesn't work," he adds.

"Every so often water starts coming through the roof. Tiles collapse from the ceilings. There are buckets all over the building because the roof leaks everywhere."

Mr Joyce says the impact on both defendants and victims is "hideous".

"You have people who have complained of rape, say in 2020, 2021, 2022, whose trials are not going to happen until 2026, in some cases 2027.

"Their cases are adjourned, and it happens two or three times, and eventually they say 'blow it, I cannot be bothered to engage with this any longer'.

"That is an outrage. The case collapses. And so the alleged rapist just walks away.

"What I was once proud of has now become a shambles and a disgrace. It was a Rolls-Royce service, and now it's more like a broken-down East German Trabant."

The crown court is undergoing essential planned maintenance for a replacement roof, works which were scheduled to last for a year, the MoJ said.

Recent storms have made this a "particularly challenging environment within which to complete these repairs, and have created unforeseen issues".

The MoJ said court lists were being managed on a daily/weekly basis to "maximise every opportunity to continue to run courts as close as was possible to normal operations".

A spokesperson for the MoJ added: "We've already funded an additional 2,500 sitting days, raising court capacity to the highest in almost 10 years and are committed to working with our partners to deliver longer-term reform."

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