Imagine living on $3 a day, and then suddenly a bottle of water costs nearly a week’s wages.
Living in a village on a mountainside, growing all your own food on that mountainside, and finding that it is no longer there due to landslides, and that your house is in such an unsafe position that you shouldn’t let your children sleep in it, but there is nowhere else to shelter at night.

I don’t usually write begging letters, it’s not in my nature, but I am making an exception as I am hearing first hand by text and email about the plight of the people of Nepal. Those I know are out in Nepal working for charities, some are still missing. Others I know grabbed their Emergency bags and rushed to the airport in their home countries waiting for the phone call saying that they are booked on a fight. Most have not yet reached Nepal due to the fact the airstrips are not able to take the increased air traffic, and as I understand it, the airports are being closed regularly due to the aftershocks. You can imagine the frustrations they are feeling, sitting around in airport transit lounges knowing that they can help, if only they can get there.

Official reports are being given by the media that the death toll has increased to 3000, I am certain this is going to rise further, only this evening I heard of colleagues who managed to reach a village on motorbike, and were faced with over 30 bodies. The police and search and rescue have not reached this village yet, when they do, no doubt the death toll will rise. This is only one village, there are hundreds of villages which have not yet been reached.

Anyone who has been to Nepal or seen it in photos will know that it is a beautiful country, with a stunning landscape, but it is a very unforgiving landscape. Many villages are built on the mountainside, and one house on top of another, which has made the landslides even more dangerous and devastating.

While the tales of the number of people who have been killed in the earthquake and after effects are horrific, what is more horrific is that those who are alive are suffering from a lack of medical care, clean water, shelter, food. Many will be searching for family and friends, not knowing if they are dead or alive. Much of the UK media has been focused on the Europeans and Americans who are stranded on Mount Everest, but they are only a handful of those who are suffering.

Hence my begging letter, if you can spare some cash, perhaps forgo the lattes this week or the takeaway you were planning for Friday night, this will go a long way in the relief effort. I know many of you will be saying that you have seen the news exclusives and that most of the charities spend more on administration than they do on helping others. But not all do..

The Esther Benjamins Trust is based in Nepal, but is British run. At the moment their staff are on motorbikes, trying to reach villages to check up on children who had been rescued from human trafficking by the charity, and who had been placed back with their families. These children have already suffered trauma, imagine what they are now going through (if they have survived the quake itself). This is a small charity which was already making a huge difference to the lives of Nepalese children prior to the earthquake, but who now really need help to ensure that they can assist those families who have no shelter, and are facing the real threat of not being able to afford a bottle of water or bag of rice due to the ‘quake inflation.

You can donate to the Trust at http://www.ebtrust.org.uk/donate-to-charity or via text – Text EBTK13 £2/£5/£10 to 70070

Alternatively if you want to donate to a more well known charity, the British Red Cross has an earthquake appeal http://www.redcross.org.uk/NepalEarthquake

For the Aussies reading this, you can donate at https://donations.redcross.org.au

For the Yankees reading this, you can donate at http://www.redcross.org

It doesn’t need to be a lot, whatever you can spare will help.

And for those of you who are thinking of going out to Nepal to help..the message coming out of Nepal is “Don’t Come”. While you may be good intentioned, you will use up the scarce resources such as water and fuel. If you want to help, please pass around this blog, and sign on for newsletter updates with charities such as Esther Benjamins and the British Red Cross, in due course, when the time is right, they will be asking for assistance, such as bedding and warm clothing, and volunteers to help rebuild schools and medical centers.

A few weeks ago, Boris Johnson said he wanted to run CPS London and the London Courts as he could make them work more efficiently. I question whether Boris Johnson has ever been into a Magistrates Court, although I accept that more and more of his MP colleagues are seeing the inside of a court dock!

So here’s is a dummies guide to the process of a case coming to trial for Boris Johnson, Chris Grayling and all the others who think they know how to run OUR criminal justice system better than we do! Please bear with me this is a long tale, but there is a reason for that which will become obvious at the end.

PC Pleb attends the scene of a crime, he is confronted with an angry victim ‘ I dialed 999 nearly 2 hours ago.. Where have you been?’ Sorry Ma’am’ says PC Pleb on his 5th apology of the day ‘ but I had to take someone to hospital, the ambulance service didn’t turn up, probably on account of the fact there were only 5 ambulances covering our area…it’s the cuts you see’

PC Pleb takes an account from the victim but isn’t quite sure about the weak identification evidence, he needs to check it out with someone more experienced, he calls his Inspector. His Inspector tells him she can’t talk as she is doing custody time limit and detainee welfare checks on all 4 custody suites in her area. ‘Oh, I am on my way back to the Police Station I shall come and see you’ says PC Pleb. ‘ I’m not in a police station’ says his Inspector, I’m doing the checks remotely by telephone without actually being able to see a single detainee as I’m also Silver Commander at 2 different major incidents, I’m the only Inspector available today. Call the CPS.’

PC Pleb calls the CPS and after the 3rd attempt to get through, Prosecutor Harassed answers the phone. She is not actually a qualified lawyer, and has no court experience and is very stressed. ‘ It’s the lack of staff, so many are off on sickness with stress, the pressure of having to deal with so many calls is getting to all of us.. ‘ she apologises when PC Pleb complains about the delay in getting through. As PC Pleb is explaining his case, Prosecutor Harassed is aware of other calls coming through that she can’t answer, she needs to get PC Pleb off of the phone. ‘You need an ID parade’ says Prosecutor Harassed, ‘ring back when you have done one’. PC Pleb is confused by this ‘But the victim says it was her neighbour, so all she will do is identify her neighbour, my query is with the fact it was dark, she didn’t have her glasses on and couldn’t have seen properly’ says an exacerbated PC Pleb. But to no avail, Prosecutor Harassed is adamant and cuts the call.

Fast forward to the 1st court date. Nasty Neighbour, who attended the ID parade and was picked out by the victim, attends court and pleads not guilty. The trial is set for 11 months time, it can’t be sooner as so many courts in London have closed that there is now no court space. Prosecutor Disillusioned is prosecuting in court, she has no dates to avoid for the witnesses, despite the fact the Victim and PC Pleb have specifically given their holiday dates to the CPS in advance. But these dates are sitting in the CPS inbox. The case workers who used to collate these files have all been made redundant. But the emails are in good company with another 1000 odd emails which haven’t been opened.

5 months later Defence Solicitor Just Hanging In There is still trying to obtain papers from the CPS. His secretary spends hours each day with the phone on loud speaker ringing out to the CPS, but, like the emails, those who used to answer the phones, they are long gone, replaced by Electronic Working. The only problem is that it doesn’t actually work.

Defence Solicitor Just Hanging In There asks the court to list the case for a mention. This is difficult for the court as it has no court staff to handle the court listings, so he receives a general letter telling him that the District Judge is compiling a list of cases where the CPS are not complying with their obligations, but sadly there is no space for a hearing. ‘ Well, that will work then’, thinks Defence Solicitor Just Hanging In There.

1 week prior to the trial PC Pleb gets a phone call telling him he has to attend court for the trial ‘ but it’s my only rest day that week’ he moans. ‘The court doesn’t run for your convenience’ he is told. He duly informs his 2 children that their day out is cancelled as he has to be at court.

The night before the trial, the victim tosses and turns all night, worried about going to court the next day. A few hours previously someone in the CPS had realised that nothing had been done on the file, no trial preparation, and the case clearly wasn’t ready. ‘ Ring Chambers and instruct a barrister to go to court tomorrow, let them get the kicking from the District Judge’ says CPS Manager Seven ( there are another six managers but they are all in a meeting deciding on what to discuss in tomorrow’s meeting!).

Barrister Worn Out and Skint turns up at court on behalf of the CPS the next day to explain to the judge that the case can’t go ahead. The District Judge asks for a background to the case, but unfortunately Barrister Worn Out and Skint doesn’t know the case. He explains to the District Judge ‘ all the papers are electronic these days, but I don’t have a CPS tablet and they won’t allow us to load them into our own laptops. They did say they would send some papers to me, but they don’t have a spare courier, apparently they used up the courier budget months ago.’

Defence Solicitor Just Hanging In There asks the court throw out the case as it’s been going on long enough and the CPS have provided no papers. District Judge Constrained By Targets tells the defence that it isn’t professional to raise this on the day of trial, and that it should be raised sooner. Defence Solicitor Just Hanging In There explains that the court refused his request for a hearing, but is told that he should have tried harder..

The trial is adjourned, without PC Pleb or the victim setting foot in the court. Barrister Worn Out and Skint asks that they are brought into court so that the adjournment can be explained, but by that time the court clerk has already arranged to take work from the overloaded court next door. All parties leave feeling ignored and frustrated. That’s just how it is.

Fast forward another 6 months and the same situation applies, with one difference, Prosecutor Experienced looks at the file the night before the trial and realises that the identification evidence is flawed and there is no realistic prospect of conviction. He emails the court a discontinuance notice, but the court computer system has crashed, and the discontinuance notice doesn’t get through. Prosecutor Experienced tries to send a discontinuance notice to the defence but the CPS system has also crashed, so he puts the notice in the post as he walks out of the office that night.

On the day of trial, Round 2, all parties are there except a prosecutor. The court clerk finally manages to get hold of a CPS manager and is told that the case was discontinued last night. At the same time, Defence Solicitor Just Hanging In There gets a call from his office to say that a discontinuance notice just arrived in the post. The victim leaves the court in tears, after another sleepless night. Nasty Neighbour leaves the court very annoyed, he protested his innocence all the way through this, but lost his job due to the adverse publicity. Defence Solicitor Just Hanging In There walks away wondering about how long it will take the Legal Aid Authority to deny him any fee for the 2 ineffective trial hearings. PC Pleb calls his wife, he might be able to spend part of his 2nd lost rest day with her after all.

This is a very long and sorry tale, and if you have reached the end you are probably feeling the same way those of us in the Criminal Justice System feel…worn out and wondering how we got into this mess. The answer to that question is pretty clear in this case. Provide sufficient resources to the CPS so that they can employ experienced staff and give them the discretion to make decisions. That way PC Pleb’s initial concerns about identification problems would have been confirmed by a lawyer with experience of court work, either on the initial phone call or shortly after on a file review, and all the wasted cost and stress of this case would have been avoided.

*Some of the details of this case have been changed to protect my client, but this type of fiasco is happening every day across the Country in magistrates courts.

Following on from my rant a few weeks ago, which went viral and was supported by people working in all areas of the criminal justice system and beyond, but was ignored by the Ministry of Justice, here is the next installment.

It is 1am and I have just finished my 19 hour work day trying to triage criminal legal aid cases, but I do hope that the Lord Chancellor and Justice Minister are enjoying their, very long, summer recess, courtesy of the tax payer.

What is frightening is that the Ministry of Justice and other Government Departments are doing nothing to try and stem the blood loss of the criminal justice system as it gushes out from us caused by the ‘we are all in it together’ (unless we are on summer recess at a Portuguese villa or enjoying the hospitality of a Russian Oligarch on his yacht in the Mediterranean) austerity cuts. This all sounds very melodramatic, but I think it is my way of saying that I am moving towards hysteria, and not in a good way.

I have a suggestion for the Ministry of Justice and other Government departments to help them realise what is blindingly obvious to anyone who has ever set foot in a police station, court room or prison – although, I accept that it is a bit difficult to do that when you are whinging about the fact you had to resign from your constituency role as receiving only £28000 a year in expenses to cover a second home has made life intolerable.  Ditch the forms and the time limits and concentrate on getting the Criminal Justice System back to a workable state.

The CPS will now rarely serve the full papers in a magistrates court case more than 14 days prior to trial, its not entirely their fault as the each person in the office who wasn’t offered a ridiculously large sum of tax payers money to leave under voluntary release redundancy is now doing the work of the 10 people who were. But lets face it, completing a form in triplicate to confirm that another form has been completed is an important task, that pesky preparation of trial files can wait.

In any event, the CPS can’t serve the statements they don’t have. PC Single Crewed, covering an area of 35 miles on his own, is highly unlikely to have the time to write up his statement, and ensure that it actually includes all the relevant details. But fear not, he is going to be given a tablet so that he can write his statements on the go….now all he needs to do is drive and type at the same time..oh, but isn’t that illegal?
Note to the Rt Hon Teresa May..‘please exempt police officers from the texting and driving ban – yes, I know its dangerous but the officer needs to tick those boxes, so that another member of staff can check to make sure he has ticked the boxes within the set time limit’.

By a miracle, the Police and CPS manage to serve the papers in good time prior to the trial, and so its full steam ahead for the trial…or is it? Dwindling Fast and Co Defence Solicitors are unable to find a lawyer who can take a day out to go and visit their client in prison to discuss their case. All but one lawyer was laid off last week due to legal aid cuts – something to do with fat cat lawyers, who stood up to a man named Grayling, getting their comeuppance.

Even if they can find a lawyer, the chances are that when they get to the prison it will be on lockdown due to a shortage of prison officers. But on the bright side, the private prisons are employing lots of temporary staff, on minimum wage rate, who have no powers of arrest. This means that for anyone who wants to try and take contraband into prison it’s their lucky day, get caught and the staff can’t arrest you, all they can do is refuse to let you in and call the police…better luck when you try again next week, by which time PC Single Crewed who is 35 miles away may just have arrived to answer the call.

Dwindling Fast and Co Defence Solicitors send a junior barrister to court to argue that that want to serve a defence case statement out of time, something to do with no staff, prison lockdowns and the papers being served 7 months late by the CPS. The court is mindful of the Criminal Procedure Rules and the phrase ‘dealing with the case efficiently and expeditiously‘ which glows from the front page of the numerous memos the court receives from the Ministry of Justice. Hence, no extension of time for the junior barrister, just a feeling of being in the headmasters office as the court explains that “The Court does not run at the convenience of the Defence”. The Junior barrister does accept that clearly is the case, the court doesn’t seem to run for the convenience of anyone any more… but time limits are time limits and like targets they must be obeyed at all costs, despite the fact they are now unworkable for all parties.

Hence, the Police, CPS and Defence all rush to try and cobble together a case to ensure that the court time limits are complied with…

# the CPS should have made an application for the witness to give evidence behind a screen, but the time limit for that has been and gone, and anyway, if the witness shuts her eyes while giving evidence, isn’t that the same thing?
# the defendant would have liked to have brought along some witnesses, but they couldn’t get the time off work due to staff shortages, they work for the Ambulance Service (and that’s another story);
# the police officer is sitting in the swanky new video suite in his police station (which is stuck out on an industrial park next to the motorway – police stations which are in the town and which the public can get to easily are so 1990s) waiting to give evidence via video link rather than coming to court. This is perfect apart from the fact the case has been listed in a court room which has a broken video link unit….it is due to be fixed as soon as the new budget is received, can the officer please sit there until April 2015?

And then, after a two hour wait, the court informs everyone that it hasn’t got time to deal with the case due to over listing…and the Magistrate announces “we are very sorry, but that’s just the way it is”. What this actually means is that the case doesn’t fall into the current categories of priority, and the court is monitored to ensure it is keeping to its time limits for the priority trials, so all other cases suffer.

That’s just the way it is for –
* the defendant who will have to go back to jail on remand and have the stress of this case hanging over him for a while longer;
* the witness who wasn’t able to sleep last night for the fear of having to come to court today;
* the police officer who had his rest day cancelled so that he could attend court; and
* the junior barrister who will just about cover her train fare with her fee for the day.

Yes, unless all of us caught up in this criminal injustice system do something about it, that’s just the way it is….

With the new football season comes the question from banned fans “How can I get rid of my ban?”  For those fans who are eligible for early termination of a football banning order it’s quite a straightforward process. If a court refuses to remove the ban, another application can’t be made for 6 months, so it is important to get it right first time.  After two thirds of the ban has been served a fan can apply to terminate  a football banning order imposed by the court under Sections 14a or 14b of the Football Spectators Act

The application to terminate will concentrate on the fan’s behaviour since the ban was imposed, so will look at things such as whether the fan has complied with the ban, has stayed away from football, has kept out of any other trouble, and in some cases has moved away from the influences which resulted in the fan being banned – for example a fan may have hung around with other banned fans and risk supporters at the time of the ban, but may  not have socialised with them since receiving the ban.

The court will want to know whether the police support the early termination or at least have no objections to it.  If the fan hasn’t come to the attention of the football intelligence officer since being banned it is unusual for the police to oppose the termination application.  Character references from employers or  teachers are also important.

In most cases where a fan contacts me about terminating a ban, if my advice is that they should apply, their ban is terminated. But that is only halff of the story as it is then important that the football intelligence officers and the football club are also notified that the ban had been terminated, otherwise a fan may find themselves refused entry at the turnstiles,

What can’t be guaranteed is that the football club will also remove any ban imposed. A football club ban can rarely be challenged in court, however if the court has removed the football banning order, a club will more likely be prepared to negotiate the end of a ban.  Hence, if you are a fan who has served two thirds of their ban, this football season may not be out of bounds to you after all.

For more information on terminating a football banning order early, contact me at gurdena@btinternet.com