Rape trial jury made to wait due to staff shortage

The chair of the Bar Council says the criminal justice system has faced "decades of underfunding"

A leading barrister has raised concerns after a judge overseeing a double rape trial had to delay asking a jury to consider verdicts because of a shortage of court staff.

The government agency which oversees the administration of courts said what happened at St Albans Court Court on 16 July was an "isolated incident".

A spokesman for HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) said steps were being taken to "strengthen staffing levels".

But the leader of the Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, said underfunding meant courts did not have enough people.

Judge Bilal Siddique was overseeing the trial of a man accused of raping two women he had relationships with when a Metropolitan Police officer.

Jake Cummings, 26, who lived in Lytton Way, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, had denied rape and said sex was consensual.

The judge was ready to ask the jury to retire to consider verdicts at around 1100 BST on 16 July.

But no court clerk was available to record administrative detail, including the time jurors retired.

HMCTS said "unusual level of staff sickness" caused a delay in the progress of a case at St Albans Crown Court

The judge asked the jury to retire at around 1400 BST, after a clerk became available.

Jurors returned with one guilty verdict shortly after 1600 BST - and were then sent home for the night.

They returned with a second guilty verdict on the morning of 17 July.

Cummings is due to be sentenced on 22 September.

"We had an unusual level of staff sickness on 16 July, which led to a delay in one case," said an HMCTS spokeswoman.

"While this was an isolated incident, we are taking steps to strengthen staffing levels to ensure we have sufficient cover in similar situations."

Bar Council chair Barbara Mills KC says the criminal justice system is not serving the people it is meant to protect

Bar Council chair Barbara Mills KC said cuts meant the criminal justice system was not serving the people it was meant to protect.

"The result of decades of underfunding, cuts across every single aspect of the criminal justice system, meaning there's not enough clerks, magistrates, probation staff… the list goes on," she said.

"There is no getting away from the fact that the entire sector must be sufficiently resourced to function effectively and as well as we know it can."

She added: "Currently, the impact on victims, witnesses and defendants is detrimental – criminal justice in England and Wales is not serving those it's meant to protect."