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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
National
Tristan Kirk

Plans for secretive online magistrates court hearings axed in media victory for open justice

The Ministry of Justice has scrapped plans to abolish thousands of open magistrates court hearings (Rick Findler/PA) - (PA Archive)

Controversial plans to allow tens of thousands of court hearings each year to take place in private have been axed after a media campaign to protect open justice.

Boris Johnson’s Conservative government pushed through proposals in 2022 for a new system which would move some criminal hearings out of the courtroom and online instead.

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