UK

Record number of trials adjourned over failure to bring suspects from prison to court

Andy Gregory
Wed, September 27, 2023 



A record number of trials have been adjourned at the last-minute because of failures to bring defendants from prison to court, The Independent can reveal.

These failures – linked to severe overcrowding in prisons – can delay proceedings for months at “untold” costs to the taxpayer, while “keeping juries waiting and increasing the anxiety of all concerned”, warned the Criminal Bar Association.

Their analysis of Ministry of Justice figures dating back to 2010 showed 58 trials were postponed because of no-shows or late deliveries of prisoners in the crown courts alone during the first three months of this year – 23 of which involved alleged violent and sexual offences, including rape.

This is the highest quarterly figure in records stretching back to 2010, having quadrupled since the same period in 2022. Further analysis by The Independent shows it is three times higher than the average in the decade to 2021, excluding 2020 when the pandemic halted in-person trials.

There were also 202 last-minute adjournments in magistrates’ courts, making it the worst quarter for five years. Both sets of figures do not include the number of additional failures to deliver defendants to pre-trial hearings, which are not publicly available.

Despite record court backlogs, “victims will bravely try to hold on for the two to three years it can take to get to court and live their lives in the permanent shadow of reliving what happened to them,” said former victims’ commissioner Dame Vera Baird.

“Then the chaos that this government had made of the criminal justice system deals them a final blow by getting them to court only for the prison system [to be unable to produce] the defendant.”

Warning that victims of sexual assault or serious violence “lose sleep for weeks before they are due to testify” and are quite likely to feel unable to go through such stress again, potentially waiting months for the case to be re-listed, Dame Vera added: “How is a victim to believe that the criminal justice system cares twopence for their wellbeing with this mess?”

The adjournments are ‘a complete indictment of everything that is wrong in the criminal justice system’, the Prison Officers Association warned (Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

The “damning” delays are symptomatic of chronic overcrowding and staffing problems within prisons, and “demonstrate a criminal justice system in crisis”, prison guards warned.

With the remand population soaring to an effective record high in the first quarter of 2023, with a fifth of the 10,000 people awaiting trial in prison trapped there for over a year, as reported last week by The Independent, defendants are being moved from bursting jails to others situated hours away from court.

A “national shortage” of prison escort staff and van drivers is also being exacerbated by the fact that police custody is being used as “an emergency alternative” to overcrowded jails, adding to the number of journeys required each day, warned Charlie Taylor, HM chief inspector of prisons.

“This challenge with getting prisoners to court on time is causing significant delays in courts across the country, and was our single biggest concern in a report on court custody facilities in Surrey, Sussex and Kent published earlier this month,” Mr Taylor said.

“To add to this, we are hearing of men refusing to go to court at all because they do not want to end up in a different prison at the end of the day because the original prison is now full up – they would rather face the wrath of the judge than the strain of settling into a new jail.”

The rise in delays comes as the number of completed trials fell by nearly a third in 2022, when 15,000 trials were successfully heard – compared with 21,546 the previous year, as the crown court backlog continues to hit new record highs of nearly 65,000 cases.

As a result, further delays due to the non-delivery of defendants are “the last thing” victims, defendants and witnesses need”, warned Law Society president Lubna Shuja.

Thirty-six of the 58 adjourned trials from January to March were in London – a failing the capital’s victims’ commissioner Claire Waxman lambasted as “simply unacceptable”.

Ms Waxman called for “swift action” to address the delays, by ensuring clear listing, good communication between courts and prisons, and better use of technology such as videolinks from prison, “whilst keeping victims of crime at the heart of these decisions”.

The official data does not show whether the private firms responsible for these custody escort services reported that the defendant had refused to attend, or whether they had simply failed to deliver them – which decides whether the firms are paid, or instead fined up to £500 for every 15 minutes of delay.

The Law Society calculated in 2018 that an average day in court cost the state just shy of £2,700 for staff, judges and building-related costs.

But the Criminal Bar Association warned this was “a tiny fraction of the actual hidden cost to the entire justice system”, with “untold” costs including the cost of police time attending court, further time spent in remand, and costly lawyer fees – with barristers not paid until trials conclude.

Failures to bring defendants to court have impacted cases involving murder and rape (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

“Justice is becoming a victim of worsening prison escort services at a time when the criminal justice system is being held together by dedicated and highly trained criminal barristers and judges,” said the group’s chair Tana Adkin KC. “We are working hard to ensure that all the cases affecting witnesses, victims, defendants and their families reach a just conclusion as quickly as possible.

“Defendants not produced from custody or produced late from custody result in huge delays to court proceedings, keeping juries waiting and increasing the anxiety of all concerned in the process.”

The delays are “wholly inappropriate and a complete indictment of everything that is wrong in the criminal justice system”, said Steve Gillan, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association.

“There isn’t any single reason for this occurring and could actually be a number of things including prisoners refusing to go to court [and] overcrowding of prisons, with prisoners being displaced from courts in their area.

“Shortage of staff from private escorts and prisons also could be a contributory factor but it isn’t acceptable at all and government should be held accountable.”

‘Chronic’ staffing shortages are impacting justice, warned the Magistrates Association (Danny Lawson/PA Wire)

Tom Franklin, chief executive of the Magistrates Association, warned of a “concerning” surge in adjournments in magistrates’ courts, with late deliveries among several challenges Justices of the Peace are “continually experiencing” at present.

The “chronic” staffing shortage across the system – “from lack of probation officers, which can delay the delivery of pre-sentence reports, to legal adviser shortages without which a court cannot sit at all” – “impact the efficiency and quality of justice”, said Mr Franklin.

Griff Ferris of charity Fair Trials warned that the “broken criminal legal system is denying justice to both victims and defendants”, with huge waits for trials involving those trapped on remand in overcrowded prisons fuelling “a mental health crisis, with record levels of self-harm and suicide”.

“People are being made to suffer these conditions because of the government’s shredding of court infrastructure and legal aid over the last decade, and its insistence on putting more and more people in prison,” he said.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Over 99 per cent of the approximately 250,000 prisoners brought to court each year arrive on time and contractors face tough penalties if a defendant arrives late.”

“At the same time, we’re creating an additional 20,000 new prison places and pushing forward with measures to recruit up to 5,000 extra prison officers so that we can continue to lock up dangerous criminals and keep the public safe.”

Young inexperienced prison officers at risk of ‘grooming’ from most dangerous criminals

Matt Mathers
Wed, September 27, 2023 



Nearly a third of officers at high-security prisons have fewer than three years of experience, official figures show, fuelling concerns about safety and “grooming” of staff by the most dangerous criminals in the country.

As of June 2023, a total of 2,993 (31 per cent) prison officers had not been in their jobs longer than 36 months – up from just 236 (6 per cent) in June 2015, according to Ministry of Justice data.

Experts warned that newer recruits who require more support, training and mentoring were at “very real risk” of being groomed by “experienced” inmates, presenting new dangers in already “overstretched” prisons.

A union representing prison officers said the figures were reflective of the staffing “crisis” across the sector, with Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) losing staff “hand over fist”.


Labour said the government needed to “urgently address” the challenges facing prison staff.

The figures come following suspected terrorist Daniel Khalfe’s escape from Wandsworth prison.

Mr Khalife, a 21-year-old former soldier, pleaded not guilty to escaping from the category B jail in south London. He appeared in court last Thursday via video link from the category A Belmarsh prison, also in London.

It sparked a national debate about security across the UK prison estate as well as staffing and morale issues more broadly among the officers working in them. Overcrowding and drug abuse are also significant problems.

Daniel Khalife pleaded not guilty to escaping from HMP Wandsworth (Metropolitan Police/AP)

Category A prisons have the highest level of security, and house male prisoners who pose the greatest threat to the public, the police, or national security – such as terrorists, murderers and rapists. Category D prisons have the lowest security and house criminals who are not deemed a risk to society.

At HMP Belmarsh, where Mr Khalife is held, 116 prison officers (27 per cent) had fewer than three years of experience as of June 2023 – up from 19 (5 per cent) in 2015.

Of all the category A jails in England, HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes and HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire had the highest percentage of these officers – 38 per cent. HMP Lartin in Worcestershire had the lowest on 24 per cent, according to the figures, published by prisons minister Damian Hinds, in response to a parliamentary question tabled by the Labour Party.

Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, said that some recruits go on to do an “outstanding” job but that those new to the service needed more support and mentoring from experienced staff.

“Whereas in the past recruits to the Prison Service were often older and more experienced, we now have officers starting who are only just out of school,” he told The Independent.

Mr Taylor said that when mentoring was lacking “it can actually be the prisoners who end up imparting key knowledge to new recruits and I have heard many tales of this taking place”.

He added: “Positive relationships between staff and prisoners are, of course, to be encouraged. But there is a very real risk that inexperienced new recruits can be groomed by experienced prisoners, introducing new areas of risk to an already stretched service.”

Earlier this month The Independent revealed that across the prison estate, only 30 per cent of officers had more than 10 years of experience – down from 60 per cent in 2017. More than 1,000 of those staff left in the past year.

“The sharp rise in the proportion of inexperienced staff in prisons reflects the staffing crisis in the Prison Service, with one in seven uniformed officers leaving their job during 2021-22,” Mick Pimblett, assistant general secretary of the Professional Trades Union for Prison, Correctional and Secure Psychiatric Workers, said.

“I am sure that HMPPS will make the same old statements regarding staffing retention toolkits, the intention to recruit extra staff and so on, but the simple fact is that HMPPS are losing staff hand over fist.”

He added: “The recent pay announcement, which stated that experienced staff on old terms and conditions would not receive a pay award this year or in the future, along with unsafe or unachievable regimes, and increased violence will only lead to further staff leaving the service.

“These prisons in the high secure estate hold some of the most dangerous people in society, including terrorists and murderers. Recent His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prison reports regarding prisons such as HMP Woodhill, HMP Whitemoor and HMP Long Lartin make for very grim reading. New members of staff are being mentored by other new members of staff, and it is a recipe for disaster which is of HMPPS’s own making”.

Sir Bob Neil, chair of the Commons justice committee and the Conservative MP for Bromley and Chislehurst, said of the high-security prison figures: “This is a stark and worrying statistic. Retaining experienced and knowledgeable prison staff is vital to safety on the estate and rehabilitation work with prisoners.

“The government risks failing in its duty of care to prison staff and prisoners alike by allowing this situation to perpetuate.”

Shabana Mahmood, the shadow justice secretary, said: “Our prisons are in crisis after 13 years of Conservative chaos, but these figures paint a stark picture of the reality of a mass exodus of staff.

“The high staff turnover means a lack of experience on prison wings and new recruits struggle to find people to learn from. The Prison Officers’ Association estimates that almost 100,000 years of cumulative experience have been lost since 2010.

“The government needs to urgently address the challenges that prison staff are facing to ensure we see an improvement in engagement and retention. Labour will get a grip of the prison system and ensure public safety.”

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “We are doing more than ever to attract and retain the best staff, including starting salaries for officers which have risen from £22,000 to £30,000 since 2019.

“Our hardworking officers are also being equipped with the tools they need such as Pava [incapacitant] spray and body-worn cameras, and X-ray body scanners prevent the smuggling of illicit contraband that fuels disorder.

“These measures are working and in addition to increasing the number of officers by 4,000 since 2017, retention rates for prison staff are now improving.”