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Thursday 17 November 2016

LATEST CRIMINAL JUSTICE STATISTICS

On the morning when Michael Gove is reported as saying that far too many offenders are imprisoned for far too long the latest statistics from the MOJ are published which more or less make his case. As far as custodial sentencing at magistrates` courts for the year ended June 2016 the numbers below have been extracted from the analysis. Of those appearing at magistrates` courts 79.6% were found or pleaded guilty and of those sentenced by the same courts only 3.6% were subject to an immediate custodial sentence. Such numbers should be compulsory study for those who persistently complain that the lower court is too custody happy.







Wednesday 16 November 2016

IS THERE PREJUDICIAL SENTENCING OF ETHNIC MINORITIES?

All you need to know, according to this report published today, on custodial sentencing of ethnic minorities in crown courts. No comment from me but read for yourself.

Tuesday 15 November 2016

DOWNFALL OF PATRICIANS

Chickens coming home to roost; hoist by his own petard; getting his just deserts..........these idioms and more just cannot do justice to the story of a local council deputy leader in Scotland.  Rarely, if ever, would a tale a year old be worthy of comment but boy oh boy this one is a lesson for all those whose influence and power however limited is distanced from those who elected them. It`s a very long very thin thread but it stretches from South Lanarkshire to Washington D.C. 

Mr Jackie Burns who was responsible for the closure of all the public lavatories under the control of his council was caught short and by the police one Saturday night last year.   

From Louis XVI by South Lanarkshire via Keith Vaz to Donald Trump and others yet to be discovered disregard for the plebs will bring the downfall of the patricians. One can only hope their trajectory will be shallow enough to allow replacements to secure the future.

Monday 14 November 2016

JUDGEMENT BY ONE`S PEERS AFTER BREXIT

Amidst the thousands of column inches on the Trump triumph and further revelations about our disintegrating prisons the MOJ released a little noticed statement a few days ago that in just over two weeks the age limit for serving on a jury will be raised from 70 to 75.   In view of my own and colleagues` compulsory retirement at 70 I have spent a minute or two asking myself why this change.

Ever since the closure of the loophole over a decade ago  allowing mainly middle class professionals to evade jury duty one would have thought that any further changes would have involved the filtering of eligibility to ensure that only those with the capability of following  the often labyrinthine and elevated language of the court would be called upon to do this civil duty. One it seems would have been wrong.  My thinking initially provided negative reasons for this sudden change.  By extending the age criterion mainly retirees would now be available to serve. Such people would not need to be recompensed for loss of earnings; tax payers` money would be saved.  There is no doubt that political and social opinions progress to the right for a majority as age progresses to the last decade or two of life. Perhaps having a reactionary minded pensioner on a jury would persuade younger members to convict more defendants especially in crimes of a violent or sexual nature.  What ever the weasel minded bright sparks at the MOJ had in mind it was certainly not for the best interests of those now available to be corralled into service.  Perhaps it is a panic measure to placate those lobbyists eg Help the Aged who are all fired up with the current discussions on the removal of the so called three way lock on pensions. With age related disability in the over 70s it does not require a crystal ball to predict that much time and effort will be expended by MOJ  beaurocracy in response to those called who will be unable for myriad reasons to serve on a jury. I find it very difficult to explain this decision in a positive light except perhaps it has finally dawned on the aforesaid weasels that far too many jurors are just unable to fulfil the requirements in practice owing to having a barely acceptable grasp of ordinary spoken English. Of course there are no hard facts as far as I am aware in the public domain on this topic. 

When Brexit finally begins to be implemented a priority for the MOJ should be to restrict jury duty to British citizens only.  In future if one million Poles and two million other Europeans wish to remain in this country they will be welcome as far as I am concerned but it would be against natural justice for them to sit in judgement on British citizens if they themselves did not wish to become the peers of the defendants. After all isn`t the phrase commonly quoted; judgement by one`s peers.  
 

Friday 11 November 2016

A PAT ON THE BACK





During my time on the bench there were many wasted hours of down time owing to the ineptitude of the court`s listings officer, the CPS,  the defence lawyers involved or a combination of all of those  plus a.n. other cause.   After years of thumb twiddling, endless fill ups of caffeine, conversations sometimes out of politeness with colleagues I resolved to make fairly extensive notes of sittings where I considered there was content of some significance.......at least to me if nobody else.  My memoir below is such an example. 


There are enough opportunities to describe some of the shortcomings of the workings of the magistrates` courts system. Indeed much frustration has been ventilated here but the 10.00a.m. start of a recent sitting demonstrated to me at least a facet of English justice of which I felt justly proud to be a very very small part.


In the witness box with a Spanish interpreter sworn in at hand a young woman recently arrived from South America was to make a statutory declaration. She had recently received a notice from a firm of bailiffs demanding around £600 in fine plus costs for non payment of a fine for a motoring offence. Her declaration stated that for various reasons she had received no earlier notification that any offence had been committed, no demand for payment and queried the offence details themselves. The procedure was carefully explained and translated for her and she left the courtroom with a perfect understanding of what might follow. I thought to myself what other country would provide such a service at no cost to a short term visitor with only her native language available for all but the most basic topics.

Wednesday 9 November 2016

UNCLE DONALD;THE UNTHINKABLE


The stars and stripes should be at half mast.

UNTHINKABLE

Below is copied an exchange yesterday in the House of Lords. It seems incredible that the answer by Lord Keen [bottom of post] is so ambiguous.  With many in the legal world opposed to extending magistrates` sentencing powers to 12 months custody it would be unthinkable that any government spokesman could not confirm that existing rights of appeal for offenders in that scenario would not be granted but then just occasionally the unthinkable actually happens.

 

Lord Faulks Conservative

Will my noble and learned friend take this opportunity to show the Government’s support for the entire cohort of the judiciary, whether it be the Supreme Court, the Divisional Court or the magistracy? Can he also confirm that, were magistrates to be given additional powers, it is overwhelmingly likely that those sentencing powers would be subject to a right of appeal, as of right, to the Crown Court?

Photo of Lord Keen of Elie Lord Keen of Elie The Advocate-General for Scotland, Lords Spokesperson (Ministry of Justice)

My Lords, we have a judiciary of the highest calibre. We have a free press, which is not always of the highest calibre. Sensationalist and ill-informed attacks can undermine public confidence in the judiciary, but our public can have every confidence in our judiciary, a confidence which I believe must be shared by the Executive.

Photo of Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Deputy Chairman of Committees, Deputy Speaker (Lords)

My Lords, would the Minister return to the second question asked by his noble friend Lord Faulks, which I believe he did not answer?

Photo of Lord Keen of Elie Lord Keen of Elie The Advocate-General for Scotland, Lords Spokesperson (Ministry of Justice)

I apologise for having overlooked the second part of the question, having been distracted by the first part. I acknowledge that the second part of the question is in point. The question of an automatic right of appeal if sentencing powers are increased clearly has to be an important consideration.

Tuesday 8 November 2016

DOUBLE DOUBLE TOIL AND TROUBLE



Speaking to a former a colleague not so long ago she told me of a recent interview her sister, also a J.P., had for appointment to the local Advisory Committee. When the subject of ethnic and other diversity on the bench came round as of course expected she replied that it would be preferable if benches were definitely not constituted as was the interviewing panel. That panel consisted of three white women aged approximately between 55 and 65. The results of the interviews will not be known for a couple of months. Apparently my colleague`s sister is not holding out much hope for success.  I don`t blame her.  Years ago I too was interviewed for a similar position in front of a similarly constituted panel. My application was rejected.

Monday 7 November 2016

THE SCOURGE OF OFFICIOUS POLICE OFFICERS

On September 15th I suggested that the only way to curb the use of mobile phones being used by drivers was a first time offender being banned for three months.  However I also pointed out that if police forces were so under manned that fewer patrol cars were in our towns and cities to catch offenders then no deterrent would be effective. But in that metropolis of Grantham where the farm animals probably outnumber the humans it seems police were right on the spot to achieve another collar by their devotion to duty in reporting for prosecution a driver unable to clear a windscreen because the fluid bottle had run dry.   

I am amazed at myself for feeling so outraged when I read the report.  Surely by any standard such an offence.......no other offence seems to have been committed.........warranted a simple warning from police.  Indeed the bench could have used its discretion in the level of fine.  

I recollect an incident when I had recently begun working professionally and my car at the time was a very old and a bit rusty Mini Cooper S in mechanically perfect condition but with some mickey mouse door decorations stuck on by a previous owner.  I was stopped by a police car whilst well within the limit (30MPH) and after the usual questions on ownership, insurance etc I was made to test every single aspect of the vehicle so an officious bastard of a young cop could check if everything from warning lights, to brake pedal, to handbrake,  to seatbelts, to steering wheel, to brake lights, to indicators,  to windscreen washers was working effectively. They were. His face took on the appearance of one miserable so and so as if he were fourth in line for three free cup final tickets.  He kicked my front off side tyre and returned to his vehicle.  The fact that I remember every minute of that stop so long ago indicates the effect it had on me. 

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Friday 4 November 2016

DAVID CAMERON:THE BEST OF TIMES AND THE WORST OF TIMES

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only".

I wonder what Dickens would have made of this fiasco.  A prime minister within a coalition offers in his party`s election manifesto a referendum on an issue which has divided this self same  party for over a generation.  Against all the odds and to his own utter amazement he wins that election and is faced with putting his commitment to the people. Surely his best of times.  So he goes to Angela Merkel with hardly enough of an argument or plea to cause a blip in her intransigence   hoping against hope that she would offer the bare minimum of a piece of paper with her signature on it to cover his arse. Locked into what is a dream for some of his party  that is becoming his nightmare he and his cohorts  fail to frighten the electorate into submitting to his will. He wakes on June 24th assuring us he will remain as prime minister only to resign a short time later whereupon the final ignominy of this incompetent unprepared inept prime minister arrives; his worst of times, and he resigns his seat.  

Chickens are returning in droves to roost. It would appear that the crass incompetent advisors and parliamentarians who steered the referendum bill through parliament and who voted six to one for it did not even realise exactly what they were voting for. As a Brexiteer all my adult life I am dismayed that those same incompetents are now calling foul when faced with the inevitable consequences of their own fallibility. Castigating the High Court judges who have pronounced on the legal position is a disgraceful reaction to their own failings. There cannot be true democracy without a balance of law and representative government. If the Supreme Court upholds the decision it will demonstrate that this country with its unwritten constitution cannot have referendums on policy. Such a device has now been demonstrated as totally incompatible with a parliament which makes law.  

One thing is for sure: there might have been previous leaders with great expectations who could be summed up by Dickens but Cameron will never make that company. "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."

Wednesday 2 November 2016

CPNs ARE A THIN EDGE TO A THICK WEDGE

The last six years of the prime minister`s arguably authoritarian rule at the Home Office is coming back to bite her where it hurts........in the court of public opinion.  Inquiries into child abuse and rioting Yorkshire miners, restricting immigration of foreign students, indexing foreign workers on companies` payrolls are but a few of her preferred options now in the spotlight.  Another perhaps more esoteric responsibility she had in her previous life was her involvement in setting up the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act in 2014.  Within the many subsections was the facility to establish Community Protection Notices.  Jobsworths at local councils can issue orders to an individual to do or not do something with a criminal sanction if the order is not obeyed.  The only requirement is that said official  need only to believe the conduct in question is having a detrimental effect on the area; an incredibly low burden of proof.  Indeed a householder in Rotherham was required to clean his windows.  

This restriction on simple activities with virtually no overall control or appeal system is just another such reduction in a citizen`s liberty.  A police officer can order a person to leave his/her home if there is merely a suspicion of domestic abuse within the address.  A person, usually a man, with no criminal record can be and has been ordered by police to give 24 hours notice of his intention to have sexual relations.  

We observe with dismay the reduction of human rights and freedom of expression in Turkey and Russia especially press and TV yet millionaires with sexual peccadilloes parade themselves as public benefactors when financing a system to restrict free reporting by the press.  We read today of a disgraced M.P. currently under investigation by police being elected to a select committee of the House of Commons; not any old select committee  but the Commons Justice Committee with Tory M.P.s whipped to vote in his favour.  These are but a thin edge to a very thick wedge.

From many angles political decisions are being seen and rightly so to be at best of little benefit to most people and  at worst self serving benefits for those who govern.  Such is the cause of there being a Trump and a Corbyn, two sides of the same authoritarian coin, within a single voting episode of taking their respective countries to ruin. Where are those honest and courageous enough to speak up?

Tuesday 1 November 2016

SALAMI SLICING THE MAGISTRACY

An interesting answer from Lords Spokesperson (Ministry of Justice) to the question,

"To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of increasing reliance on district judges, what role they envisage for lay magistrates".  


Lord Keen of Elie The Advocate-General for Scotland, Lords Spokesperson (Ministry of Justice)

"We are committed to giving magistrates the strongest possible role in a more proportionate courts system, now and in the future. Magistrates and District Judges bring different but valuable skills to our justice system. We are working with magistrates to review their role to make sure that the justice system is making full use of their skills, and that they are dealing with more of the crimes that affect and matter most to their communities". [my underline]

With my pre disposition to the view that this government in line with the previous wishes a full time professional judiciary for all or most of the sittings at magistrates` courts I read into the reply that this is civil service speak for a further indication in the process of salami slicing before our very eyes the functions of Justices of the Peace.

CCTV! POLICE SHOULD RECRUIT EX STASI

It was widely reported that a specialist shop selling accordions was robbed recently.  Yesterday the local police force appealed for any witnesses to come forward.  All very simple in our current world. But a closer look at the reports and it is revealed that the robbery took place about three  months ago. The appeal for witnesses is based upon newly released images from a CCTV camera.  NEWLY RELEASED!  Why has it taken all this time to produce images which with the passage of time are unlikely to wake up a dormant memory. Any regular attendee at a magistrates` court trial will have experience of police failings in this regard; lawyers and J.P.s most of all.  

It is common knowledge that the U.K. is the country in the world most subject to surveillance by CCTV.  It`s a paradox that such over capacity is used so inefficiently especially by those who clamour to increase its coverage of all that we as citizens undertake as the regular activities of our normal law abiding lives.  Perhaps such overseers should hire ex members of Stasi to improve their performance or watch that superb film The Lives of Others.

Monday 31 October 2016

GOVERNMENTS DO BUSINESS; AN OXYMORON

Governments, whatever their protestations, seem only interested in the short term. Gordon Brown`s sale of much of the country`s gold reserves at the turn of the millenium when gold was at its lowest level for twenty years is perhaps the most infamous  such decision of recent years.  The selling of supposedly underused magistrates` courts` buildings at rock bottom prices, many in prime locations in town centres, is another example although usually known only to locals in the property business.  Bow Street Magistrates` Court was not just another court.  It was perhaps, after the Old Bailey, the most famous court in the entire world. In 2005 it was sold to an Irish property developer for €25 million.  Until recently it has remained empty.  After passing through the hands of Austrian hoteliers Rudolf and Christian Ploberger it has now been acquired by a Qatar company which plans to finally convert the old monument into another luxury hotel in Central London; a hotel one might say to be fit for a prince.  The price paid was £125 million

The costs of so called private finance initiative initiated by the Blair Brown combo during their years of covering the cracks in our society politically,  financially, morally and spiritually are being paid for at the present time and for many years into the future.  The sale of the courts` estate is likely to prove very *profitable for most of the buyers

Quite simply governments have shown themselves to be hopeless at the business of business.  Heaven help us when the real negotiations begin in Brussels and I`m a lifelong brexiteer.




*

FOI - 91736
           
           July 2014



Freedom of Information Request

You asked for the following information from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ):

     “(1) Which court buildings closed since May 2010 have been disposed of
(a)  on the open market and (b) through an alternative route;

(2)Which court buildings announced for closure since May 2010 have been 
      (a) disposed of and (b) not disposed of;

(3) Of those courts announced to be closing since May 2010 that have been disposed of; and how much has been generated in capital receipts from their disposal.”

Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

I can confirm that the department holds information that you have asked for, and I am pleased to provide this to you in the annex to this letter. Table 1 provides information on court buildings disposed of since May 2010 on the open market and through alternative routes and the receipts generated. Table 2 provides information on court buildings announced for closure since May 2010 that have not yet been disposed of.





 Annex

Table 1: Court buildings closed since May 2010 that have been disposed of, their disposal method and the receipt generated

Property Name
Disposal Method
Receipt
Aberaeron Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£225,000
Aberdare Magistrates' and County Court
Open Market
£275,000
Abertillery Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£81,000
Acton Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£1,171,650
Alnwick Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£20,000
Ammanford Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£90,000
Ashford Magistrates' and County Court
Open Market
£375,000
Balham Youth Court
Open Market
£2,000,000
Barking and Dagenham Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£505,000
Barry Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£250,000
Barnsley Crown Court
Open Market
£170,000
Batley & Dewsbury  Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£300,000
Blandford Forum Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£175,000
Blaydon Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£145,000
Brentford Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£650,000
Bristol Magistrates Court
Open Market
£1,800,000
Camborne Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£137,500
Cardigan Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£48,909
Carmarthen CC
Open Market
£275,000
Coalville Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£245,000
Consett County Court
Open Market
£125,000
Cromer Magistrates Court
Open Market
£325,000
Daventry Magistrates Court
Open Market
£140,000
Denbigh Magistrates Court
Special Purchaser Sale to Denbigh Town Council
£165,000
Dewsbury County Court
Open Market
£278,000
Didcot Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£400,000
Ely Magistrates' Court
Special Purchaser Sale to Ely Council
£1
Gosforth Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£378,000
Guisborough Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£275,000
Halesowen Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£315,000
Haringey Magistrates
Open Market
£10,100,000
Harrow Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£1,125,000
Harwich MC
Open Market
£352,500
Hemel Hempstead Magistrates' Court
Special Purchaser Sale to Dacorum Borough Council
£650,000
Hexham Magistrates' Court
Special Purchaser Sale to Hexham Abbey
£102,500
Ilford County Court
Open Market
£1,313,013
Ilkeston Magistrates' Court
Special Purchaser Sale to Derby College
£610,000
Ipswich Crown Curt
Open Market
£360,000
Keighley Crown Court
Open Market
£130,000
Knowsley Magistrates Court
Open Market
£250,000
Launceston Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£87,500
Liskeard Magistrates Court
Open Market
£380,000
Llandrindrod Wells Magistrates Court
Open Market
£34,400
Llwynypia Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£471,010
Market Harborough Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£291,500
Melton Mowbray MC/CC

£147,000
Neath Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£450,000
Newark Magistrates' and County Court
Special Purchaser Sale to Newark College
£405,000
Newport Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£59,000
Newport Magistrates' Court (Gold Tops)
Open Market
£380,000
Northwich Magistrates' and County Court
Open Market
£260,000
Penrith Magistrates' and County Court
Open Market
£175,000
Penzance County Court
Open Market
£230,000
Pontypool Crown Court
Open Market
£200,000
Port Talbot
Open Market
£225,000
Pwllheli Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£131,101
Rawtenstall Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£135,000
Redditch Crown Court
Open Market
£345,000
Retford Magistrates Court
Open Market
£151,000
Rugby Magistrates' and County Court
Open Market
£285,000
Salford Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£544,000
Sandbach (HMCS Offices)
Open Market
£200,000
Southport Magistrates Court
Open Market
£304,000
Sittingbourne Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£430,000
Sudbury Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£112,000
Sutton Coldfield Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£440,000
Sutton Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£2,247,000
Swaffham Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£150,000
Tamworth Magistrates' and County Court
Special Purchaser Sale to Staffordshire County Council
£437,500
Tower Bridge Magistrates Court
Open Market
£8,525,000
Thetford Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£232,500
Wareham MC
Open Market
£290,000
West Bromwich Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£165,000
Whitehaven Magistrates Court
Open Market
£200,000
Wisbech Magistrates Court
Open Market
£150,000
Witney Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£330,000
Woking Magistrates' Court
Special Purchaser Sale to Surrey County Council
£1,050,000
Woolwich Magistrates' Court
Open Market
£335,000
Grays Magistrates' Court
Lease Surrender
n/a
Llangefni Magistrates' Court
Lease Surrender
n/a
Total

£47,317,584

Note: A "special Purchaser Sale" is where the eventual buyer was identified at a very early stage in the pre-marketing process as a 'special purchaser'. 


Table 2: Court buildings announced for closure since May 2010 that have not yet been disposed of

Property Name
Current Position
Bournemouth Magistrates Court
Not yet on the market
Bishop Auckland Magistrates & County Court
Under Offer
Bracknell Magistrates Court
Not yet on the market
Bridgeport Magistrates' Court
Under Offer
Bridgwater Magistrates’ Court
On the Market
Burton-upon-Trent County Court
On the Market
Cirencester Magistrates’ Court
On the Market
Coleford Magistrates’ Court
Not yet on the market
Dorking Magistrates' Court 
Contract Exchanged
Epping Magistrates’ Court
Under Offer
Flint Magistrates' Court
Not yet on the market
Frome Magistrates' Court
Contract Exchanged
Goole Magistrates' Court
On the Market
Haywards Heath Magistrates' Court
Contract Exchanged
Honiton Magistrates’ Court
On the Market
Houghton Le Spring Magistrates' Court
Under Offer
Houghton Le Spring The Ville
On the Market
Keighley Magistrates' Court
On the Market
Lewes Magistrates’ Court
Contract Exchanged
Lyndhurst Magistrates’ Court
Not yet on the market
Market Drayton Magistrates' Court
On the Market
Oswestry Magistrates' Court & County Court
Not yet on the market
Pontefract Magistrates’ Court
On the Market
Rochdale Magistrates’ Court
Contract Exchanged
Sherbourne Magistrates' Court
On the Market
Selby Magistrates’ Court
On the Market
Stoke-on-Trent Magistrates’ Court
On the Market
Totnes Magistrates’ Court
On the Market
Towcester Magistrates' Court
Not yet on the Market
Wantage Magistrates Court
Contract Exchanged
Wimborne Magistrates' Court
Under Offer
Witham Magistrates Court
Under Offer
Weston Super Mare Magistrates Court
Not yet on the market