26 hours in custody: Remand delays labelled 'absolute travesty'
Changes must be made to the “absolute travesty” of holding remand hearings outside the county, according to a solicitor.
Adrian Roberts, from Lanyon Bowdler solicitors, was speaking after a Shropshire client he was representing, who has serious mental health issues, was held for more than 24 hours waiting for a court appearance.
The man, who was arrested for possession of £30 of the class B drug Mamba last year, and who denies the charge, had surrendered to police in Market Drayton at 7.30am.
Mr Roberts said that due to no space being available for a hearing at Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court – where Shropshire remand hearings have taken place since April – he was held overnight at a police station to be taken to court the following day.
Previously Shropshire remand hearings took place at Telford Magistrates’ Court.
When the man appeared at court he pleaded not guilty and was released on bail, having spent around 26 hours in custody.
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Mr Roberts “This is an absolute travesty. It is easy to use words and overstate the unfairness of things but this is dreadful. The court should be embarrassed.
“It is completely disproportionate. If Telford was open then he would have been gone by lunchtime.
“This is someone with mental health problems who says he is not guilty.
“I am just astonished that in 2019 people in the position of authority in the court service think this is acceptable.”
The solicitor said that had his client been dealt with under previous arrangements, where remand hearings were held at Telford Magistrates’ Court, the man would not have been held overnight.
He also said that the police had been prepared to transport the man to Kidderminster but that the court did not have space to accept him.
In February it was confirmed that more than 80 prisoners were held overnight in cells waiting for court hearings in just three months last year.
The courts service has defended the system, and earlier this year said: “The centralised remand service has brought significant benefits to victims, witnesses and indeed defendants by delivering earlier trial dates.”
