Politicians are facing fresh pressure to reform the broken Single Justice Procedure as more victims emerged from the secretive fast-track courts.
Thousands are prosecuted and convicted each week at behind-closed-doors court hearings in a justice system that magistrates themselves have admitted is in urgent need of reform.
The Evening Standard on Tuesday night won Private Eye’s Paul Foot award for its long-running investigation into the impact of the Single Justice Procedure (SJP) on vulnerable defendants.
It has been revealed that heartbreaking letters from elderly people, victims of the cost-of-living crisis, those with dementia and poor mental health are not read by prosecutors in a system which has been dubbed “conveyor belt justice”. Unlawful prosecutions against children in the secretive courts have also been exposed by the Standard.
Tory Justice Secretary Alex Chalk told Parliament in March that “fairness is non-negotiable”, and has now committed to reforms if returned to government, admitting: “We need to look at it again.”
“We do need to look again at it (SJP) to make sure that this important mechanism is operating as intended and that standards of fairness are being upheld”, Mr Chalk told the Standard. “If changes are required, so be it. The Evening Standard is to be commended for shining a light on this important issue.”
Labour, which is set to release its manifesto on Thursday, said it would consider changes to the system.
Shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “Labour strongly believes in the principle of open and transparent justice. A Labour government would look closely at what possible improvements can be made to the Single Justice Procedure, including recommendations from magistrates themselves.”
In the latest cases to go through the SJP system, a nurse from Yorkshire was handed a criminal conviction over an unpaid £26 car bill while she was caring for her dying cancer-stricken mother-in-law.
She “dropped everything” to make five-hour round trips to care for her relative, and told the court she discovered she was being prosecuted a week after her death.
“It is the first time in my life anything like this has ever happened, and I feel so terrible about it”, she wrote to the court. The DVLA, as the prosecutor, did not see her handwritten letter due to the fast-track nature of the courts process, missing the chance to withdraw the case as not being in the public interest.
The woman was then handed a conviction and ordered to pay £126 to cover the cost of the criminal case brought against her.
In another case, a man with autism and mental health difficulties who says he is suffering heart failure and on the verge of being made homeless was prosecuted for not paying for his TV licence.
The 53-year-old, who lives in Mr Chalk’s Cheltenham constituency, said he believed he had a valid licence but pleaded guilty and wrote: “I have not deliberately not paid for a TV licence but mental health takes over. This charge has now taken me over the edge when people like me should be helped.”
In March, the Magistrates’ Association said JPs wanted changes in the SJP system, saying they felt rushed into making decisions.
