'Nightingale court' will be created to tackle Northamptonshire's staggering backlog of serious criminal cases

Northamptonshire will be one of the next locations in England to create a emergency 'Nightingale Court' to deal with the county's backlog of serious criminal cases.

Police and Crime Commissioner for Northamptonshire Stephen Mold confirmed this week a temporary court will be established in "the north of the county" to tackle hundreds of delayed trials.

It comes after this newspaper reported in October how Northampton Crown Court was weighted with a backlog of 501 cases at the end of June, brought on by the Covid-19 crisis and "years of national underfunding".

Stephen Mold said: "There's been an 80 per cent increase in workload for witness support unit during lockdown, and a huge number of cases that won't come to fruition until 2022.

"As some say, justice delayed is justice denied.

"This is something the Government have been pushed for quite hard because there was not enough of a recognition of the effect of lockdown on courts.

"I honestly don't know how long it will be in place. Personally, I would want to see it here for as long as it takes them to tackle the backlog."

The Ministry of Justice announced the creation of 10 of the 'pop-up' courts in July under the weight of delayed criminal trials, made worse by the coronavirus crisis.

In fact, some 550,000 cases currently await a court date in England and Wales, including more than 40,000 serious cases scheduled for the crown court.

At magistrates courts – where all cases start out before the most serious are sent to be heard by judges and juries at crown courts – the backlog soared by almost 100,000 cases during lockdown, reaching a record high 422,000 at the of June.

Even in our county, Northampton Crown Court had 501 pending trials at the end of June.

The Law Society of England and Wales, which represents solicitors, told this newspaper in October the Covid-19 pandemic had merely exacerbated a significant existing backlog, caused by "years of under funding and cuts".

Stephen Mold also said that the caseload for the county's witness support unit had ballooned by 80 per cent over lockdown, from 1,153 cases in April to 2,075 in September.

He said: "The longer delays go on the more victims and witnesses have to live with the events of their case.

"If you are a victim of, for example, sexual assault and have to relive those events years down the line because of delays.

"And it's sad to say but some unscrupulous lawyers might tell their clients not to plead guilty because there's a chance that the witness for the prosecution will get forgetful or pull out, and this can and does happen in more serious domestic or sexual assault cases.

"In any case, it's heartbreaking for any witness or victim to have to go through again.

"I commend all the joint work between the crown prosecution service, the Ministry of Justice and partners in Northamptonshire to bring this forward."