A BENCH`S NOSE FOR A POTENTIAL BAIL JUMPER

A frequent and most important function at Magistrates` Courts is the question of bail. The starting point for most bail decisions is that a defendant has a right to unconditional bail. Like many of life`s choices sometimes these decisions are more difficult than others. A conversation with a former colleague recently reminded me of a particularly interesting case. 

The defendant from West Africa was making his first appearance in court and was represented by the duty solicitor. He was charged with possession of a false identity document with the intention of using it [a passport], an indictable only offence and a false driving license. He had been on police bail since his arrest. When asked in court to identify himself he gave his name as per the court list but a different address. There would be a formal adjournment until his next appearance and the CPS prosecutor was asked if there were any observations on bail to which the reply was, "Your worship he`s been on police bail and turned up today....no objections to unconditional bail." Unsurprisingly his representative agreed. My colleagues and I were surprised. In view of the charge he was questioned about his time in the country and the nature of his "new" address. Two years in England and he pays a friend £200/month to live in his flat. He had no documents with him to confirm those details. We decided that we needed more information and instructed the prosecutor to inform the appropriate police officer to make enquiries about the address. By now it was 12.45pm. The defendant was reminded he was still on bail and was told to wait outside the courtroom until he was called back in. Five minutes later the officer returned and the prosecutor told us the address did indeed exist and was above a Chinese takeaway in an adjoining borough. A defendant is rarely questioned directly in a situation like this [bail] when he has a legal representative acting on his behalf. The duty solicitor was told that we intended to ask the defendant upon his return to descibe the location of the address given specifically its position above the Chinese takeaway. The "duty" told us he would intervene if the question[s] became "improper". During this time our legal adviser was of the opinion that we were "overdoing it" with our concern and respectfully told us so. Bail is a magistrates` decision not that of the legal adviser and he apparently contented herself that he had said enough. The usher who was suffering a twisted ankle was asked to summon the defendant. He went outside the courtroom and returned a minute later stating that the defendant was not in the corridor outside and so had made a call over the Tannoy. Knowing of the usher`s difficulties the "duty" offered to scour the upper floors for his client although the Tannoy could be heard all over the building including the lavatories. A minute after one o`clock he returned to the courtroom after confirming the usher had made a second call on the Tannoy. The defendant had absconded! A warrant without bail was issued.

Sometimes the combined legal opinions of a prosecutor and legal adviser are less sensitive to a situation than a J.P.`s nose for the nasty smells emanating from a defendant`s utterings.

COURT SALES: A LESSON FOR BREXIT

As  a long time Brexiteer I welcomed last year`s result.  Having read of various members of the trio charged with negotiating our exit and Theresa May`s approach to the situation generally I`m beginning to wonder if we need to import a dealmaker to advise these politicians: after all being an elected M.P. requires many different skills but being able to make £2 from a £1 pound investment isn`t one of them. Take the sale of hundreds of magistrates` court buildings in the last five or six years.  Under various pieces of legislation about which I had no knowledge prior to today empty buildings are required to be sold within three years of closure. Parliamentary Written question - 208529 in 2014 provides this information. I suppose the time limit is to ensure that such matters are not left on the back burner but on the other hand it can mean that property is being sold into a buyer`s market.  Inheritors coming into possession of a deceased relative`s house often have to decide, assuming they don`t need immediate cash, if and when to sell. Surely the government as lender of last resort could do likewise. As an example former Bridgewater Magistrates` Court was sold two years ago for just £186,000.  Today it is for sale for £450,000 in exactly the same unaltered state as when it closed.  Why on earth did nobody in the property department at the MOJ take a view on the market?  If I were being paid as a professional researcher which I`m not, I`m almost certain many more such examples could be found.  It`s a similar cadre of civil servants who will be negotiating our exit deal.  To have any chance of satisfaction successful professional deal makers must be brought to the table to advise politicians. We don`t need or want a Trump as P.M. but we do have a few billionaire business people with the skills required.  Get on the phone Mrs May.

IRREGULAR EVIDENCE QUESTIONED

It`s not every day that a magistrate`s bench is accused in open court by a lawyer for the defence that irregularities had occurred in the conviction of a client: namely that information (evidence) not produced at the hearing had been instrumental in the conviction of that client.  The reasonably detailed newspaper report is available here.  No doubt this will be one to watch.

A SPECIAL KIND OF BLAH

The ad below is taken from this week`s Police Professional.  I suppose somebody somewhere must know what the job entails. 

JOB VACANCY OF THE WEEK Senior Policy Manager - Specialist Capabilities
 

London
 

Association of Police and Crime Commissioners

Salary: £45000 to £50000 (Depending on experience)

The post holder will be expected to ensure that PCCs contribute to the strategic direction of this important work - enabling all PCCs to exercise their executive decision making responsibilities.

In addition, they will ensure that PCCs have robust governance of any resulting proposals and that they can articulate the benefits that are being delivered to the public. As such, this role will involve working closely with a range of key individuals and Boards. This includes the Specialist Capabilities Board and its supporting Programme Team.

SEX AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR ORDERS

I`m more than ever convinced that our justice system; a term which denotes some degree of clarity and precision and is perhaps misplaced in this instance, depends on expediency over function.  Criminal Behaviour Orders are a case in point: a civil order with criminal sanctions.  It has taken a long time for the legal world to catch up with "domestic violence".  Indeed it is still some way behind.

The case of Kylle Godfrey is disturbing.  It wreaks of  the thought processes used by the likes of the Stasi; gleaning information from neighbourhood informers and the like.  In a coherent justice continuum such individuals as the above mentioned would be locked away from society for a time thought applicable to his offending.  But where the basis of the Sentencing  Council on government instruction is to avoid incarceration where humanly possible Godfrey and his ilk will be a danger to the public.  Evil exists in this society.  No amount of wishful thinking will remove it from our daily lives.

A DRAGON OR A RECEPTIONIST?

Most of us at some time or other have attended an A&E department for ourselves or having accompanied another to await treatment.  As with attendance at a G.P.`s surgery it is the receptionist with whom a patient must first make contact and that contact can set the tone for the complete experience.  It is unusual that this scenario reaches the Court of Appeal.  Last month it did.  This report in the Law Society Gazette makes an interesting read.

CLARIFICATION

Earlier this year I commented a few times on the apparent publishing of court results of the West Sussex Bench by HMCTS. I am pleased to make it clear that after exchanges with that latter organisation`s recently appointed CEO that the results were published independently by the newspapers concerned although she did admit that the format did give some cause for ambiguity.

SHOULD THE CATEGORY "HATE CRIME" BE ABOLISHED?

For England Wales and Scotland the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 made hateful behaviour towards a victim based on the victim’s membership (or presumed membership) in a racial group or a religious group an aggravation in sentencing for specified crimes. Does it really justify increasing a proposed custodial sentence if the perpetrator made clear that his assault was motivated because the victim was a so called goth, or gay, or Muslim or Jew, or Hindu or whatever minority category the court recognised.  Does the hate within the perverted personality of a vicious thug need to be eg of a non acquisitive nature?  The examples are not infinite but I`m sure many can come readily to mind.  The result of such criminal action up to and including murder is not altered by the offender`s reason assuming there is no defence of diminished responsibility. Some jurisdictions do not recognise hate crimes; Albania, Cyprus, Estonia, San Marino, Slovenia and Turkey. 

The great and the good of this country`s legal establishment consider hate to be an aggravating factor.  The simple reason I can think of is that by so doing they consider a certain but unknown amount of protection for the minorities and/or deterrence to the assailants is offered.  But then why have a differential at all.  If the sentence per crime were increased so that all were at the same level would that not be more logical?  I doubt that those intending violence  consider that shouting fucking Jew, Muslim, Queer or what have you will increase their sentence if convicted.  They are so self centred and/or encompassed by their perverted passions  that the thought of being in court just does not occur to their little minds. For the legal process the term "hate crime" can be in itself a source of some controversy.  It is time to consider its abolition as an aggravating factor?  

 

IS TIME MONEY?

For many decades court sittings have begun at 10.00am.  In actual practice that means that the professional and active participants usually arrive at least one hour earlier to prepare for the anticipated workload.  Generally that start time is in line with British business.  We don`t exist in a Mediterranean or middle eastern climate where much business, government and retail activity begins at 8.00am or earlier. A 9.00am start to a working day allows parents to ensure children are safely at nursery or school. For most if not all workers a common work start time is as significant as a common time per se. Those voluntarily contracted to some night shift work be it eg manual labour or medical emergency arrange their domestic duties accordingly. As has been mooted previously some bright young things at the MOJ think that court sittings could begin at 8.00am and have scheduled Highbury Corner Magistrates Court in London as the place to run a pilot scheme.  Where have we heard all this previously?  The MOJ loves its pilots.  Very few do anything but cause irritation and resentment amongst those involved or are just the leading edge of a pre-determined consultation; another favourite watchword of the weasels of Petty France London SW1.   

At Highbury Corner it seems that lawyers are venting their splenetic energies at this ridiculous notion. The proponents have offered an alternative arrangement of continuing the current practice of a 10.00am start  but running courts until 8.30pm; an alternative road to revolution by many of the legal fraternity. Everyone involved with the magistrates` courts system knows that it is almost a certainty that active sittings rarely begin on time.  Many defendants don`t know or care which day of the week they are due to appear never mind the time of day. To imagine that the miscreants of North London will arrive at a court at 8.00am is to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of the court`s car park.  And what of the court staff including those sometimes considered by HMCTS as unpaid employees; the Justices of the Peace without whom the system would collapse?  Paid employees including District Judges might be offered  some sort of inducement financial or time off in lieu to upend their whole work/home balance but J.P.s?  There would be resignations en masse.  But they are so afraid of retribution that not one dares to voice a public objection.  Perhaps in its unsaid quest to professionalise the magistrates` courts system the MOJ would welcome a further erosion of J.P.s` involvement at the court level to one of a neutered group dealing with TV license evasion or similar minor transgressions.  

This proposal is just one more step in wrapping funding cuts around a seemingly plausible route to efficiency.  The civil court has in the guise of "meeting its costs" put itself beyond the reach of many who cannot afford the required fees to obtain justice. Civil, family and criminal courts are not experiencing all the savings expected by the wholesale restriction of legal aid because litigants in person and defendants require much more time to present their cases and we all know as those Whitehall weasels think they know; time is money.

ENOUGH SAID

A few years ago I attended for the first time a committee meeting of the borough planning committee. My presence was not as a councillor but as an objector to a proposal which was likely to have an effect on amenities near my home. The visit proved interesting. Although objectors to the three other planning applications before the committee were allowed to exceed an allotted three minutes my neighbour and I who, in our opinion, had more to complain about than the others, were cut off in full flow at the allocated three minute deadline. When the applicant of the proposal to which we objected took the stand he made three statements in his five minute rebuttal which were simply lies. My neighbour upon getting to his feet to object was ordered by the committee chairman to sit down and be quiet upon pain of exclusion. Is this local democracy in action? My long held disquiet at the machinations of planning officials, committees and their approvals was not dispelled by my experience that evening. To cap it all an earlier application to which we were witness and which was heavily criticised by many on the nine person panel was granted approval after a committee member pleaded that if it were refused it would on appeal almost certainly be approved and therefore the cost of said appeal to the council would be a waste of council tax payers` money. My thoughts at the time were unprintable. With that background a return to the happenings within the magistracy might be seen in context.

I was in court two days after the above meeting. One of my colleagues had been a person I had had the privilege of sitting with on her first two sittings ever some three or four years previously. After the above sitting she mentioned casually during the usual informal chit chat I enjoyed having with colleagues irrespective of whether a formal post court discussion with the L/A was or was not worth the time, that some few months prior the bench chairman had stated during a discussion on whether special reasons had been established not to disqualify an errant driver that if the bench declined it would be overturned on appeal. That argument apparently persuaded her colleague but not her to vote with the chairman to allow for the establishment of special reasons. My other colleague and I were dismayed. We left the building feeling that enough had been said.

PUFFING MY OWN TRUMPET RE KEIR STARMER

Last night I watched the BBC Brexit Question Time and was none too impressed by the performance of former Director of Public Prosecutions now reborn as a Labour front bench spokesman Keir Starmer. Permitting myself a little puff of prediction on my own trumpet  I commented on 17th March 2012 at this blog`s now defunct previous site [see below]  that Starmer was more suited to a political position than his current one.  It seems to me that selling snake oil door to door to the undeserving poor of Islington with J. Corbyn might be more suitable for his smooth talking but unconvincing talents. 

The Crown Prosecution Service has had a fair amount of what I deem justifiable criticism on this site. I am not alone. Earlier this week Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate published its latest report. It does not make comfortable reading and Keir Starmer`s response is more that of a politician than the equivalent of a C.E.O. of a vast organisation. Readers can access the press release here.

STAINING OF A POLICE COPY BOOK

It appears that within a few years all those aspiring to be police officers will require to be university graduates or  equivalent.  On the face of it that might seem to be a sensible level of education considering the knowledge needed to do a job with so many sub speciality requirements in addition to the old fashioned idea of "thief taking".  So far so good but in what could loosely be called a "people" job as opposed to a "desk" job it would seem that the recruiters are losing sight of a simple basic necessity when somebody dons a blue uniform; common sense.  When I was appointed J.P. it was a facility that had to be demonstrated at interview.  That aspect of personality was dropped many years ago on the spurious grounds that in order not to cause offence to ethnic minorities or those of recent immigrant status the term common "shared by, coming from, or done by two or more people, groups, or things"  was no longer considered appropriate.  Perhaps police appointment panels share the same philosophy because how otherwise can it be explained that this police officer behaved in such an imperious and crass fashion.  On a practical level for every worthwhile action of her colleagues she stains their collective copy book. 

THE TRUE NATURE OF POLITICS

In matters of sentencing magistrates can be said to be between a rock and a hard place; they are chastised if they do and criticised if they don`t.  With increased sentencing powers to 12 months custody unactivated for some years and some like the Howard League forever insisting that magistrates be relieved of authority to dispense custodial sentences per se, a Ministry of Justice that devises all sorts of excuses to remind sentencers that there are supposedly viable alternatives to custody and legal advisors afraid of saying boo to a goose in case they put their jobs in danger it`s no wonder that magistrates are somewhat confused.  When it comes to prolific shoplifting there are guidelines designed like a great maze for sentencers to construct appropriate punishments.  When the principle of public protection is overlooked or dismissed media stories like this one are a journalist`s delight when newscopy is thin on the ground.  

The truth is that the MOJ and its cousin HMCTS don`t know where to turn or in what direction they should set their compasses.  Money has been squeezed from their and the Home Office`s budgets until there`s not much juice left for them to squeeze.  When awful events  occur as happened yesterday politicians are vying to make clear their support for our wonderful police and emergency services whilst simultaneously conspiring in their being forced to run on empty.  Such is the true nature of politics. 

ALL WIND AND PISS

For those who might still be unaware of the judiciary`s lack of confidence in the Lord Chancellor the speech made recently  by the Lord Chief Justice is a disturbing event as far as its content is concerned. From her pronouncements since her appointment this blogger would comment that  she is as  Joyce had it in Ulysses - "All wind and piss like a tanyard cat".

IT`S A FINE MESS WE`RE IN

If you buy a car and fail to keep up with your payments there won`t be a gentleman from the finance company opening an office in your area to enquire why you`ve missed the payments. You`ve broken the contract and the car will be repossessed. As many have and are discovering the same applies to those who default on their mortgages. Their properties are repossessed. It is obvious of course that generally but not exclusively those defaulters are nearer the middle or lower levels of income distribution than the higher. And it can be said that their loans were based on income and/or credit rating. The loans were freely entered into and both parties to the deal considered, in theory at least, that disposable income was sufficient to service the amount. They might even have been offered various insurances to indemnify themselves against unemployment.

Fines imposed at court are for breaking the law. The law is rarely hidden waiting to jump out and catch innocents going about their daily business. When it did became widely known that the law was behaving in just that fashion the speed cameras were painted yellow to ensure justice was seen to be done. Fines in this country are calculated according to ability to pay. Depending on how the figures are analysed there is general agreement that at least half a billion pounds or more is owed in unpaid fines. Of course that amount is akin to water flowing into a bath with the plug out. It will never be completely empty of water so long as the taps are open; for taps read fines imposed daily. In some southern states of America if, after all attempts at getting unpaid fines in have failed, imprisonment on the basis eg of $1 unpaid = one day inside is actioned . I have witnessed such sentencing. It is quick and effective. There is none of the shilly shalishing that is the approved procedure here to get in what`s owed. But for a multitude of reasons the American example will never be considered here. It would be considered illiberal for a start and the current thinking within the Justice Ministry would be more likely to lobby to bring back hanging than undertake any new policy likely to increase the jail population. So once again we have the tail wagging the dog until perhaps the “Daily Believe It” publishes the scandal of fines remitted annually owing to offenders being considered unable ever to meet their obligations this side of 3000 A.D.

Attempts have been made to reduce this deficit. In Widnes in 2011  the local council and Her Majesty`s Court and Tribunal Service opened a fines surgery for defaulting offenders to be encouraged to come up with at least some of the readies owed for their own law breaking. That scheme has closed. The tail is not just wagging the dog; the inmates are running the asylum. Ah!..........I overlooked that we don`t have asylums anymore; it`s care in the community.