Peterborough Crown Court closed for week because of a lack of judges

Resident judges at Peterborough Crown Court were not available and no cover could be found

A criminal court had to be closed for a week after resident judges were not available and no cover could be found.

Peterborough Crown Court, which has two resident judges, had no hearings between Monday and Friday.

A Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) spokesman said hearings would resume from Monday.

Across the country, about 60,000 Crown Court trials are waiting to be heard, with many serious cases being listed now in late 2023.

Earlier this month, the new Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said he could not promise when unprecedented delays in prosecuting and jailing criminals would be solved.

Dominic Raab became justice secretary in last month's cabinet reshuffle

In this week's spending review, the Ministry of Justice was given an additional £2.2bn for the recovery of the courts, prisons and probation services.

There is also funding for 32 Nightingale Crown courtrooms until April 2022.

A HMCTS spokesman said: "Due to exceptional circumstances two judges were unavailable this week and despite the best efforts of staff, no short-term cover could be found.

"A small number of criminal hearings were affected but family and civil cases continued as normal."

Court work, including case progression, continued despite there being no hearings.