The Times - UK (2022-05-02)

16 Monday May 2 2022 | the times

News

Magistrates can

now jail people

for up to a year

Jonathan Ames Legal Editor

Magistrates’ sentencing powers will

double today as legislation allowing

them to hand down jail terms of up to a

year comes into effect.

Ministers said that the move would

free up to 1,700 days of crown court

time as they battle to reduce a record-

breaking backlog of cases that is badly

delaying trials of serious criminal of-

fences.

Officials at the Ministry of Justice

have predicted that the reform will

mean as many as 500 trials a year could

be moved from crown courts to be

heard by magistrates in England and

Wales as they would now fall within the

magistrates’ powers. But justice cam-

paigners have called the measure “the

height of irresponsibility” and predict-

ed it would swell an already bloated

prison population to breaking point.

Whitehall officials said the move

would allow crown courts to focus “on

getting through more serious, compli-

cated cases, delivering swifter justice

for victims and tackling the backlog”.

The MoJ has launched a national

campaign to recruit 4,000 magistrates.

Officials said the scheme involved a

“streamlined recruitment process to

specifically target young people in a bid

to boost diversity”. They said that more

than 34,000 people had registered an

interest since January.

Dominic Raab, the justice secretary,

said that the government was “doing

everything in our power to bring down

the court backlog”.

Raab added that 30 courtrooms at

so-called Nightingale courts — build-

ings such as conference halls that were

converted during the coronavirus

emergency — remained open in an at-

tempt to cut the crown court backlog,

which stands at about 60,000 cases.

The Magistrates’ Association, which

represents 12,000 lay judges across En-

gland and Wales, has long campaigned

for increased sentencing powers. Bev

Higgs, its head, said that the reform

would “lead to more timely justice that

can only benefit all court users — de-

fendants, complainants and witnesses”.

However, penal reform campaigners

criticised the move in January, when

ministers first published the timetable

for implementation. They argued that

magistrates’ courts were more likely to

imprison defendants for offences at the

lower end of the criminal spectrum.

“The impact on prison numbers

could be very serious and there is no

evidence any additional money will be

made available to cope,” Andrea Coom-

ber, chief executive of the Howard

League for Penal Reform, said.

Coomber said ministers had predict-

ed that prison numbers would increase

to record levels over the next five years,

and that therefore the move to increase

magistrates’ sentencing powers was

“the height of irresponsibility”.

Higgs denied that the change would

bloat prison numbers. She said that

magistrates “follow clear and strict sen-

tencing guidelines” regarding prison

sentences. In the ten years to 2019, the

number of magistrates, unpaid volun-

teers who hear 90 per cent of criminal

and civil cases, halved to about 15,

in England and Wales. More than half

were aged over 56.

Afghan judge who tackled

insurgents denied UK visa

Charlie Faulkner Kabul

An Afghan judge who prosecuted hun-

dreds of Taliban insurgents as part of

Britain’s counterterrorism strategy in

the country is being refused safe, legal

passage by the Home Office.

Initially, the British authorities de-

nied receiving Judge Sayed’s applica-

tion to relocate from Afghanistan to the

UK. Since acknowledging his request,

however, the Home Office has twice re-

fused to grant him a visa, despite the

High Court highlighting the substan-

tial evidence documenting Sayed’s

commitment to the UK mission and the

danger he faces.

Between 2008 and 2011, Sayed deliv-

ered sentences at the Justice Centre in

Parwan (JCIP) at Bagram airbase and

at Kabul’s counterterrorism court.

Those convicted included Taliban

fighters, al-Qaeda members, Isis and

Haqqani Network detainees captured

on the battlefield.

The men were freed through the US

peace deal and now pose a threat to

Judge Sayed and others involved in jail-

ing them. However, the Home Office is

refusing to grant him safe legal passage

on the grounds that he did not make “a

material contribution to the UK’s mis-

sion”, The Times can disclose.

“My brother doesn’t regret serving

justice to those who killed innocent

people, but he is very disappointed by

the way he has been treated by the UK

government,” his brother Behzad, a

British citizen living in the UK, said.

“The UK relied on the judges at JCIP.

Not only are they refusing to relocate

him but they are denying what he did.”

The day before Kabul fell on August

15, Sayed and his brother Mayhan, who

worked as a court clerk in JCIP, submit-

ted applications for relocation.

Messages between Behzad and his

former colleagues who were involved

in Operation Pitting – the British mili-

tary operation to evacuate civilians

from Afghanistan – confirm Behzad’s

brothers and their families were on the

evacuation list. However, the brothers

were unable to get to Kabul’s inter-

national airport due to the chaos as

thousands tried to flee, and a suicide

bomb attack killed nearly 200 people.

When a flight out was no longer an

option, they went into hiding. The

family had already been targeted: a

cousin who had also been a judge was

assassinated in 2020. They blame the

Taliban for his death. Sayed has re-

ceived threats to his life since 2014.

On April 6 the Home Office once

again denied Sayed’s application, citing

ineligibility, but failed to make any ac-

knowledgment of the danger he faces.

Sayed’s legal team are challenging the

decision once more on the grounds of

the imminent threat he faces.

Names have been changed.

Brave hearts Hundreds of St Andrews students gathered at the East Sands at dawn yesterday for the traditional May Dip

UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS