Until the single justice procedure is fundamentally overhauled, miscarriages of justice will continue to be uncovered. A joint Evening Standard/ITV News investigation has again revealed vast inadequacies in the system, from grieving families to pensioners with dementia and even the dead being wrongly prosecuted under secretive fast-track courts.
Take the story of Jenny Beasley. She faced prosecution after accidentally letting her car insurance lapse for a single day while mourning the death of her three-month old daughter. Beasley wrote a letter to the court, setting out the tragic circumstances, yet was hit with a criminal conviction because prosecutors — who possess the power to withdraw cases — failed to see her heartbreaking testimony, a direct consequence of the speed and design of the SJP.
