West Yorkshire court system in 'crisis' over lockdown backlog
West Yorkshire's court system is in "crisis" with a backlog of thousands of cases due to the coronavirus lockdown, a police chief has said.
Social distancing rules mean trials have been postponed and cases reduced. Mark Burns-Williamson, police and crime commissioner (PCC), said there was frustration at the "lack of progress from the national court service". The government has previously said a "huge amount of work" was happening to keep the justice system going. The concerns were raised at a meeting of the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel, the Local Democracy Service reported. Roger Grasby, an independent member of the panel and a magistrate, said a recent remand hearing at Leeds Magistrates' Court was only able to deal with four cases in one day compared to about 20 under normal circumstances. Mr Burns-Williamson said they were "frantically working to get a local plan in place" and there was potential to look at "Nightingale courts" to help ease the burden. He added: "We will do whatever we can locally to mitigate it, but there is no doubt this is a crisis." Read more Yorkshire news and coronavirus updates Chief Constable John Robins, of West Yorkshire Police, said more should have been done to make courts safer during the pandemic, rather than shut them completely. In response, a spokesperson for HM Courts and Tribunals Service said: "We make no apologies for moving quickly to keep court users safe and, since the start of the pandemic, have worked closely with the judiciary and partners, including the police, to keep as much of the justice system running as possible. "This includes hearing thousands of case remotely, keeping Leeds Combined Court open throughout and recently restarting jury trials in various locations including Bradford."