Fraud trial defendants unable to get representation following legal aid cuts
A major fraud trial at Southwark Crown Court has collapsed after the defendants were unable to get legal representation due to legal aid cuts.
Barristers refused to take the case, R v Crawley, due to 30% cuts in fees for Very High Cost Cases (VHCCs). Judge Leonard QC stayed the proceedings, noting that the defence had contacted 70 sets of chambers with competent barristers, including at the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh and the Bar of Northern Ireland, but with no success.
Barristers have refused to accept any VHCC instructions for the last few months in protest at the cuts. Some six other VHCC cases could be similarly affected by lack of representation.
Delivering his judgment, Leonard J said: “Criminal trials of this complexity rely on the skills of highly competent and experienced advocates on both sides to reduce issues, make matters understandable to a jury and keep trials to a reasonable length.”
He declined to grant an adjournment until January 2015 since there was “no realistic prospect” that sufficient barristers would be found by then. He said the Public Defender Service was too small to take the case.
“Having considered all these matters I am compelled to conclude that, to allow the State an adjournment to put right its failure to provide the necessary resources to permit a fair trial to take place now amounts to a violation of the process of this court,” he said.
“The knock-on effect on other trials, the waste of court resources and the need to disregard the Criminal Procedure Rules designed to protect the court system from abuse and to ensure that scare resources are used to best effect all, in my judgment, add to the reasons why an adjournment should not be granted.”
Alex Cameron QC, head of chambers at Three Raymond Buildings, acting pro bono for the defendants, argued that the defendants would not get a fair trial.
The Financial Conduct Authority said it was considering the ruling and whether to appeal.
The defendants are accused of operating a complex land-banking scam through the companies Plott UK Ltd, European Property Investments Ltd and Stirling Alexander Ltd, between 2008 and 2011. The trial was expected to last at least three months.
The collapse of the trial will be an embarrassment to Chris Grayling, the Lord Chancellor, who pushed the cuts through in the face of robust opposition from the Bar Council.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Even after the savings, if a QC picked up a case like this one, they could expect to receive around £100,000 for working on it, with a junior barrister receiving around £60,000.
“The government has made sure that the Public Defender Service has a number of suitably qualified advocates who could act in this case.”
