Today I wasted my morning, having got up an hour early, and driven into West London. Another magistrate did the same, as did a Circuit Judge, numerous court staff, learned counsel, and their supporting lawyers.
Due to the kind of sloppy preparation that is routine from today's slimmed-down CPS, we had neither of our two witnesses, and the prosecution papers were pathetically disorganised. It wasn't even clear what offences he had been convicted of, and whether the 1872 Act or the 1990-whatsit applied. The Bench trooped outside, as one does, and phone calls were made while we drank coffee. Ten minutes later we went back into court where the CPS threw in their hand and offered no evidence. Appeal allowed, conviction and sentence quashed, defendant's costs order made to be taxed from central funds. My colleague and I cancelled lunch and went home having achieved absolutely nothing at considerable public expense.
I fully understand the Government's overriding need to cut spending, and to sort out the deficit, but the cuts to criminal justice amount to classic false economy, at the level in which I work.
And by the way, all three of us on the bench were a bit surprised at the costs order but Hizonner looked up chapter and verse in the three-inch thick law tome that was in front of him, and yes we could, so we did.
"went home having achieved absolutely nothing"
ReplyDeleteI think what you meant to say was along the lines of, "went home having helped ensure that justice prevailed and that the state didn't unfairly exercise its might over its citizens" ;-)
Some of my more satisfying days in court have been preventing screwed up prosecutors from taking the proverbial.
tell that to the victims
ReplyDeleteThere was no victim as such, since this was a traffic regulatory type of offence. He was a lucky boy, as the CPS had cocked up a straightforward case.
ReplyDeleteWasted Cost orders against the CPS will sharpen them up, You can and should use them!
ReplyDeleteAnd very typical of the way the Coalition views 'justice', i.e. they don't care. The CPS needs loads more money and better staff. Well, the USA leads the world as a murderous, criminal enterprise, from the top, but thankfully not all the way down. Likewise, when it comes to the banksters, it's hands off and no criminal prosecutions here either...
ReplyDeleteIn Essex, things are so bad that the Courts are taking a three week "trials holiday" in September in a desperate attempt to to allow CPS to stay in their offices and sort themselves out. Sticking plaster really and no sign of anyone seeking to address the underlying fundamental issues.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with (one of the) Anonymous commenters. If there's a way that a wasted costs could have been ordered, they should have been. Enough of those would put the government on notice about these appalling CPS cock-ups.
ReplyDeleteLast time I was in a magistrates' court I was astounded at the level of incompetence shown by the CPS prosecutor. Lack of funds is one thing, incompetence is quite another. Is it lack of training, or just no-one decent wants to work for the CPS?
ReplyDeleteBoth, at least in Essex.
DeleteThe CPS pay is crap compared to the major defence firms, so you tell me...
DeleteThe pay is indeed rubbish - as it is for most solicitors in private practice specialising in Criminal work. Legal aid has been cut to the bone too so no one is getting fat on it save maybe one or two QC's who do high value cases. However the difference is that despite getting c**p pay, defence solicitors normally still do a fantastic job unlike the CPS where morale is rock bottom.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of wasted costs, I'm not actually sure that this makes one jot of difference to the CPS. THEY don't pay it - ultimately its you and I who pay out of our taxes!! No doubt some bean counter in CPS HQ tuts quietly into his coffee when the accounts come accross his desk but he simply moves the debit into another column and hey presto...sorted!!
What everyone is overlooking re a wasted costs order, as useful a tool as it may be, is that it is simply shuffling round taxpayers' money, and makes the CPS even less efficient as it just doesn't have the funding it needs to be a decent job. Don't blame the CPS, blame those who decided to reduce its resources (and those of probation and legal aid) by 30 per cent.
ReplyDeleteWell, I hope you at least expressed your displeasure to the prosecutor over his sorry performance.
ReplyDeleteThis being a crown court appeal, Counsel appeared for the Cps, and it woul have been pointless to blame her, as she was simply working to her brief.
DeletePerceptive, Jaguar. It's pure rhetoric to penalise the CPS financially when they need every penny they can get to maintain some kind of standard against a background of the back-office meltdown. As for the quality of advocacy, some is very high - and these are the ones we risk losing through demotivation
ReplyDelete.
SouthLondonJP - hammer, hit, nail, head. If morale is at rock bottom, this will reflect in the quality of work. It's a fact of life in any field. Having worked with many companies the ones that had the worst customer service were those where the workforce was led by weak and incompetent management who did not support those under their wing.
ReplyDeleteProsecution Counsel get handed papers at the last minute and are expected to get on with it. If the papers are in any sort of order, Counsel will be able to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. If not, the above scenario plays out.
ReplyDeleteExternal Counsel review seems to be the only realistic analysis of cases these days. I have heard that CPS expect their inhouse lawyers to review 10 cases per hour.
And let's not even start about disclosure.