Probe as Shropshire man's bail case runs out of time
A Shropshire man charged with domestic violence breached his bail by assaulting a witness but was not dealt with by the court because his case was not heard in time – despite him being arrested nearly 24 hours earlier.
The Ministry of Justice has said it is "urgently" looking into what happened in the case, while a solicitor said the situation raises serious questions about protection of witnesses and victims.
The defendant, who was originally arrested for assault and is yet to face a trial for the offence, was arrested twice on separate occasions for breaching his bail and appeared at remand hearings in Kidderminster.
The first breach of bail was for assaulting a witness in the case and the second for approaching a witness.
However, it has emerged that on his second appearance, earlier this month, the court was not able to deal with his bail offence because he had not been brought before the bench within 24 hours.
A spokesman for the courts service confirmed that the court had "declined to form an opinion" on the breach of bail because it had been out of time.
Her Majesty's Courts & Tribunal Service said that it is now trying to find out what happened, and "understood the distress caused by the delay in bringing this matter to court".
Switch
Previously remand hearings would have taken place at Telford Magistrates Court, but they were switched out of the county, to Kidderminster Magistrates Court last April.
Currently defendants are taken to Kidderminster by a bus for the hearings, but those arrested after the bus leaves are held overnight for transport the following day.
The move has attracted considerable criticism but the courts services has defended the decision saying it has considerably improved the time it takes cases to come to trial at Telford Magistrates Court.
The defendant in the most recent case was arrested at 9.40am. Under previous arrangements he would have faced a remand hearing the same day at Telford Magistrates Court.
However, he was held overnight and taken to Kidderminster for the hearing, by which time the 24 hour limit had expired.
A local solicitor said the situation was concerning for both victims and witnesses.
He said: "It is not fair on the victim or the defendant. The expectation is people will be brought before the first available court and certainly within 24 hours for any alleged breach.
"Because it has been moved from the local court where it was never a problem it now seems to be a recurring issue between certain hours."
He added: "I am sure the victim, having taken the trouble to report the matter to the police would expect the police and the court to act, not to be told they could get them before court and they have been released.
Investigate
A HMCTS spokesperson said: “We understand the distress caused by the delay in bringing this matter to court and are urgently working with our partners to investigate why this happened.”
Last week HMCTS apologised after providing inaccurate figures for how many prisoners were being transported out of Shropshire for remand hearings.
In a response to South Shropshire MP Philip Dunne last July, Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) said that only 20 prisoners were held overnight for transport to Kidderminster from April to June.
However, a Freedom of information request from a group of Shropshire solicitors revealed that the actual number was 84.
In response to a query about the accuracy of the original figures, HMCTS said the statistics had been the result of "human error" and were an "honest mistake".
The organisation said it had also met with police to make sure any statistics provided in future are correct.
A HMCTS spokesperson said: “We apologise for initially providing the wrong data in this case – it was an honest mistake and the result of human error when the data was collated.
"We have since met with the police to ensure we provide the correct statistics as a matter of urgency.”
Complaints continue as ministry claims justice is being speeded up
Remand hearings for Shropshire have taken place in Kidderminster since last April, but while criticism remains over the move the Ministry of Justice has repeatedly insisted that the change has resulted in improvements at Telford Magistrates Court.
Local solicitors and the region’s police and crime commissioner have been vocal in their concerns of the move, which means all Shropshire prisoners facing remand hearings are taken by bus to Kidderminster Magistrates Court.
However, the Ministry of Justice has said the move has led to a fall in the time taken for cases to come to trial.
The MOJ has said the average time from first hearing to trial in the last quarter before the change was 105.8 days, a figure which fell to 69.9 days in the second quarter after centralisation.
Despite that there remains criticism, particularly over the number of prisoners being held overnight at Telford police station.
Under the previous system those facing remand hearings would have been taken to Telford Magistrates Court the same day – using a tunnel that connects the police station to the court.
Last week it emerged that figures detailing the number of prisoners held overnight provided by the Ministry of Justice to MP Philip Dunne last year had been incorrect.
The figures wrongly stated that only 20 prisoners were held overnight for transport to Kidderminster from April to June.
However, a Freedom of information request from solicitors revealed that the actual number was 84.
HMCTS said the statistics had been the result of “human error” and were an “honest mistake”.
John McMillan of the Shropshire Defence Advocates Group, welcomed the comment but said he was unhappy at how long it had taken to confirm the numbers.
“None of this should have come as a surprise to anyone with half a brain because we have been complaining ever since July last year that the figures were wrong.”
