The decision to halt a multi-million pound land fraud trial due to legal aid cuts leaving the defence without barristers has been overturned by the Court of Appeal.
The trial, R v Crawley (also known as Operation Cotton), collapsed earlier this month after Judge Leonard QC stayed the proceedings, noting the defence had contacted 70 sets of chambers with competent barristers with no success. He declined to grant an adjournment until January 2015 since there was “no realistic prospect” that sufficient barristers would be found by then.
Barristers are refusing to take Very High Cost Cases (VHCCs) due to 30% cuts in legal aid fees.
However, three Court of Appeal judges, led by Sir Brian Leveson, this week described the stay as “draconian action”. Instead, they said, the trial should have been adjourned pending more barristers becoming available.
A further eight complex criminal trials are due to commence in the coming months – and are likely to encounter similar problems.
Gareth Weetman, barrister at 7 Bedford Row, says: “Although this Court of Appeal judgment provides the Ministry of Justice with a period of respite, the problem at the heart of this significant fraud trial, and many others close behind it, remains.
“With no independent barristers willing to prepare such cases after a 30% fee cut, the Ministry is now scrambling to try and solve the problem by employing barristers to the Public Defender Service, leading to the additional costs of employment such as holiday pay, pension contributions and national insurance etc. Many commentators are questioning whether they will be able to recruit sufficient numbers in time, and what the total cost to the public will be.
“It is very likely that exactly the same lack of barristers as arose in this case will arise in the others like it over the coming months.”
