Tristan Kirk

Child rape trial delayed after a plug explodes under the prosecutor's bench
Sparks flying, strong smell of burning, a lawyer lucky not to have been electrocuted

But in a sign of how we simply cope with terrible court decay, the prosecutor took a minute, moved along the bench & got on with case prep

Judge: "Jury service is a really vital aspect of democracy in this country, that serious cases in the Crown Court are tried by members of the public prepared to give up their time and sit in judgement of their fellow citizens.
"It's a pretty awesome responsibility."

New Bar Council chair Kirsty Brimelow KC uses her inaugural speech to call for Single Justice Procedure reform

"No doubt the SJP offends fundamental principles of fairness...issuing fines to the most vulnerable people in
circumstances where they should not be prosecuted."

The possible solutions are obvious, in my opinion, if not necessarily simple.

Improve the prison transport service, toughen up the system of penalties for late arrival

Hire more staff at courts

Make sure every court has an x-ray scanner at front door security

Monday morning, the van from HMP Wormwood Scrubs hasn't arrived so the 11am sentence is delayed

Lawyers for a defendant accused of rape can't get into the cells to see him, so the 12pm trial will be delayed

And lawyers are complaining about how long it took to get into the building this morning

Fresh fury over secret courts allowing energy firms break into homes The Chief Magistrate is investigating after concerns about the utility warrant system were uncovered by The Standard

Ministers are now under pressure from campaigners to halt the warrants process until the system has been fixed

The Chief Magistrate is already investigating

Here's my original report from @thelondonstandard.bsky.social

www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/magi...

Energy pre-payment meter update as 'secret court hearings' continue The Chief Magistrate is reviewing how warrants are being issued

Three years ago, a scandal broke about energy companies & forced prepayment meters

The response to that scandal is disturbing

Magistrates now approve applications for warrants that they've never seen
And they do almost all this in secret

My PA report today:

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news...

Bedbound disabled woman faces TV Licence prosecution TV Licensing brought the prosecution against the woman after noting she is disabled and has mental health struggles

Bedbound disabled woman struggling after cancer death of husband faces TV Licence prosecution

#SingleJusticeProcedure

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/t...

Today is my final day as the Standard's Courts Correspondent

After a decade, it's time for a new challenge
I'll continue to cover the courts & remain obsessed with open justice

The joy of this job has been working with very talented & hard-working people who I will miss a lot

Fresh fury over secret courts allowing energy firms break into homes The Chief Magistrate is investigating after concerns about the utility warrant system were uncovered by The Standard

Disturbing findings from a year-long @thelondonstandard.bsky.social investigation

- Magistrates routinely sit in secret to approve utility warrants
- They don't even look at most applications
- Rule breaches aren't investigated

Chief Magistrate looking into this
www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/magi...

Revealed: The real reason for London’s crippling court delays Labour is bringing the axe down on jury trials, but people in court tell a different story of where the chronic delays come from

Empty docks, shuttered courtrooms, missing evidence - The real reasons for London’s crippling court delays

My long read for @thelondonstandard.bsky.social

www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...

A mugger who spent a week robbing people on the Tube is in the dock to be sentenced

Judge is here, lawyers are here, police are here, probation is here. I'm here

But the interpreter is not here

Adjourned to Jan

That's actual delay in the justice system
Someone should fix it

Harsh justice: Autistic teen convicted of not insuring moped he didn't use The boy’s mother told the court she is “deeply disappointed” at his treatment

Beware fast-track justice. This is what it does

The mum is bounced around, getting no help or answers, then just enters a guilty plea for her distressed autistic teenage son to get it over with

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/a...

Bedbound pensioner, 84, convicted of not insuring car she'll never use again An 84-year-old woman who is bedbound and reliant on daily care has been convicted of a driving offence after failing to insure a car she will never drive again

Bedbound pensioner, 84, gets criminal conviction over car insurance

It's a harsh illustration of the broken justice system

When will MPs step up and fix it?

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/p...

Pensioner with dementia convicted over unpaid TV Licence bill Ailing pensioners, people with mental health struggles, grieving families and children have all been caught up in the Single Justice Procedure scandal

A pensioner with dementia gets a criminal conviction over an unpaid TV Licence

This one is pretty heartbreaking

The #SingleJusticeProcedure is broken

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/p...

SJP notices offer guilty/not guilty. No option to get in touch and question validity of the case. Many tick 'guilty' then put in the mitigation box info that calls whole case into question

Mags should be sending cases back when they see info like this, not accepting the guilty plea. That's a choice

True. It's a tough job
But imagine finding out the bathroom sink is leaking & doing nothing
Not stopping using it, not finding a temporary fix til you've time to do something permanent. Just doing nothing

When that kind of negligence goes on & on, it needs highlighting or nothing will ever happen

So that's a six-month failure to fix the system.
A system which is acknowledged to be broken, and in the meantime around 400,000 people have been prosecuted.

It was the Conservatives fault. They created the system, and then ignored the consequences when they were pointed out.

But now it is Labour responsibility.
There was a consultation that ended in May on possible changes, lots of ppl pointed out how it could be fixed, then nothing for 6 months

Teenager convicted over £1.67 unpaid tax bill for 18th birthday gift The prosecution of the teenager happened in the controversial Single Justice Procedure

Teenager prosecuted over £1.67 in unpaid tax on a car.
A criminal conviction for an offence that happened before she knew she even owned a car.

Infuriating that this kind of thing is still happening

Labour has failed to fix the #SingleJusticeProcedure

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/t...

Ex-Reform UK leader in Wales jailed at Old Bailey over Russia bribes Nathan Gill admitted taking bribes to make pro-Russia statements in the European Parliament

Ex-Reform UK leader in Wales jailed for ten-and-a-half years for taking Russian bribes

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/r...

Earl Spencer stalker who posed as BBC podcaster handed court ban Earl Spencer told the court how he was ambushed by Michelle Akpata at a book signing

Earl Spencer stalker posed as BBC podcaster in 'fixated' pursuit of the aristocrat and his son
www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/earl...

Always a delight to get an invite from @quietriotpod.bsky.social

Problems in justice go beyond crumbling courts to the disintegration of the fabric of the system
And politicians aren't being honest with the public about how to fix it

Have a listen!

Earl Spencer's shock after coming face to face with 'stalker' Exclusive: Michelle Akpata spent months bombarded the Spencer family and staff at their Althorp estate with requests for a meeting with Viscount Louis Spencer

Excl: Earl Spencer came face-to-face with a suspected stalker who was "fixated" on meeting his son
www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/earl...

Grieving daughter convicted over unpaid TV Licence A grieving woman with mental health problems is the latest case to emerge from the Single Justice Procedure

Losing a loved one is hard. Coping with grief is harder for some than others.

In a compassionate society, a grieving person with mental health struggles who hasn’t paid a household bill would be helped, not convicted of a crime

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/t...

Accidentally freed prisoner was given bail from immigration centre Judge Rosa Dean ordered prosecutors to provide more information on Brahim Kaddour-Cherif

I was in court today for a hearing of the prisoner accidentally set free from jail. He wasn't there.

It is a case study in the terrible communication between prisons, courts, and the immigration system. Absolutely atrocious, but equally not that surprising

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/p...

Tipping Point: Inside Britain's broken justice system Trials delayed until 2030, victims and defendants’ lives on hold, buildings without running water. Courts correspondent Tristan Kirk reports on a shameful decline

The Criminal Justice System in this country is fundamentally broken. Trials will soon be set in 2030, victims are losing faith, prisons are full, and crimes may be going unsolved

My long read for this week's @thelondonstandard.bsky.social

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/b...

I'm writing today about the broken Criminal Justice System

For a boost, I bought a coffee from the Old Bailey's canteen, which was downgraded recently to a vending machine

The machine promised an overpriced latte, then spewed out a black coffee with no milk

Is this the metaphor my article needs?

Inmate at scandal-hit jail died after staff didn't spot suicide risk An inmate at scandal-hit HMP Chelmsford died despite being a known suicide risk

More trouble for HMP Chelmsford, the prison which accidentally set free a sex offender:
One of the inmates died when staff filed to spot he was a known suicide risk www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/hmp-...

Sex offender's accidental release shows the mess our prisons are in Our prisons are failing and have been for some time. This latest episode should be a wake-up call

Politicians have simplistic solutions to crime - lock everyone up, and for longer
They then have a casual indifference to what happens once the cell door is shut

This weekend's crisis over the prisoner wrongly released is symptomatic of a broken system

www.standard.co.uk/comment/sex-...