High Court blocks release of criminal defendants in trial delays

The High Court has blocked further releases of criminal defendants in England and Wales whose trials are delayed by a barristers' pay strike.

Prosecutors had challenged decisions by trial judges that the strikes are not sufficient reason to extend the usual six-month limit on pre-trial custody.

At least a dozen defendants have been told they will be released because their cases will not be heard in time.

The High Court did not overturn these individual rulings.

Dame Victoria Sharp, president of the King's Bench Division of the High Court, was ruling on cases involving defendants at Bristol and Manchester Crown Courts whose cases had been delayed by the strike.

She said Judges "fell into legal error" when refusing to keep the defendants behind bars - but did not overturn the decisions to release them on bail.

Max Hill, the director of public prosecutions, had argued that judges were "wrong" to express views over the merits of the pay dispute between the government and lawyers.

Members of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) began an indefinite, uninterrupted strike earlier this month in an escalation of a long-running industrial dispute over pay.

The action has exacerbated a court backlog which has been at record levels since the start of the Covid pandemic, with many trials facing delays and disruption.

Dame Victoria said: "It is neither necessary nor appropriate for judges to attribute blame for the current dispute between the CBA and Ministry of Justice to one side or the other, or to comment on its underlying causes."

However, she warned: "If the situation remains as it is now, the relevant point at which the unavailability of legal representation can properly be described as chronic or routine is likely to be reached by the last week in November 2022."

This puts prosecutors on notice that, by the end of November, the industrial action will no longer be a good enough reason to keep people behind bars for longer than normal.

Ministers have agreed to meet the CBA to discuss the dispute.