The Law Society Jnl reports
Amurder trial was adjourned for three days because the heating was broken, the Law Society’s deputy vice-president has told MPs. Richard Atkinson, a managing partner at Tuckers Solicitors, was giving evidence on the state of the justice system to the House of Commons home affairs select committee yesterday.
He said: ‘What we know is there are now just about 5,000 cases outstanding that have been waiting two years or more for trial. We know that the buildings are in a terrible state.’
In a shocking report published by the Law Society last December, hundreds of solicitors said they experienced delays in cases being heard due to the state of the court within the past 12 months.
Atkinson told the committee: ‘A case that I had, which concluded only a couple of weeks ago, was a multi-handed number of defendants in a murder trial. Obviously huge resources. And for three days in that trial it could not sit because the heating wasn’t working. I’ve been made aware of a case where two defendants were to be sentenced for serious matters but couldn’t be because the judge was told the cells were closed because the heating wasn’t working. So the physical state of the estate is contributing to delay.
‘The delays are a problem and then you have the issues around personnel involved,’ Atkinson added. As well as insufficient number of judges, there was an ‘enormous crisis’ facing defence solicitors.
