Legal history will be made on Thursday morning — as a Crown Court sentencing will be filmed for the first time.
On Thursday, Judge Sarah Munro QC is expected to be filmed as she passes sentence on Ben Oliver for the manslaughter of his grandfather. The footage will be broadcast on news channels and made available online through Sky News, BBC, ITN and the PA news agency.
The move to allow cameras in the Crown Court follows a change in the law in 2020, but implementation was delayed in the pandemic. It will open up some of the most high-profile courts and allow the public to see and hear judges explain the reasoning behind their sentences.
Only the judge will be filmed during any sentencing to protect the privacy of victims, witnesses and jurors. Although London will be the site of the first filming, the law allows for any Crown Court to be filmed with the judge’s permission — so could head to Greater Manchester soon.
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One lawyer who has welcomed the move with cautious optimism is Matthew Condrad, a former trial lawyer for six years with firm Slater and Gordon. He said: “In the interests of justice, and justice is seen to be done, then it is good for it to be in the public domain. With the advance of technology it’s overdue — it should have been available for TV.
“The danger however is that it can be a spectacle. There’s a danger of it becoming a circus. I think it’s important for safeguarding to be put in place, especially for vulnerable defendants as there could be cyber-bullying.”
Other justice chiefs say the move is ‘very positive’. Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said: “Opening up the courtroom to cameras to film the sentencing of some the country’s most serious offenders will improve transparency and reinforce confidence in the justice system.
“The public will now be able to see justice handed down, helping them understand better the complex decisions judges make.”
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Burnett of Maldon, also hailed the move as a “very positive” step in promoting open justice. He said: “It’s something that I was really keen should happen and I started working on it when I became Lord Chief Justice in 2017.
“The law was introduced in 2020. And we all hoped that we would start filming sentencing remarks in high-profile criminal cases in the summer of 2020 and were it not for Covid, that would have happened, but now it is happening. I think it’s an exciting development, because it will help the public to understand how and why criminals get the sentences that they do in these very high-profile cases.”
And media supremos also are supportive of the move — with John Battle, head of legal and compliance at ITN, and chairman of the Media Lawyers Association, saying it was a ‘landmark moment for open justice’.
“This reform reflects the public’s right to see justice being done in their courts. Court reporting is vital to democracy and the rule of law and this long overdue change is welcomed,” he said.
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