Met Police chief says Court backlog needs 'urgent action'

It comes as Justice Secretary David Lammy has outlined a shake up to traditional jury trials.

Transcript

00:00The Metropolitan Police Commissioner has said that London urgently needs a justice system that actually protects its communities

00:10and has warned that some offenders are moving around the capital without proper monitoring

00:17and others are repeatedly let out on bail despite posing clear risks to society.

00:26So Mark Rowley told the London Policing Board that too many people who should be electronically tagged simply aren't

00:35and that those who are often break the walls with little consequences.

00:44He said Londoners' faith in the system is slipping and that confidence across the city has fallen sharply in recent years.

00:53According to Rowley, this should be a wake-up call for courts, prosecutors and probation services

01:00who he believes need to act quickly to show Londoners that justice still works in the capital.

01:07Now, this has come at a time where the government, led by Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy,

01:17has just proposed a major shake-up of the courts that could reshape how justice is delivered in London and beyond.

01:25Under Lammy's plans, many cases that currently go to jury trials will be instead heard by a single judge in so-called swift courts.

01:36Well, it's a real pleasure to be here to launch the UK's anti-corruption strategy.

01:45And obviously it's incredibly fitting that we're doing that in the ancient heart of London,

01:53a city that has long understood the truth at the core of commerce,

02:00that trust is everything, that where prosperity is earned, not stolen,

02:07where everyone wins, when everyone plays by the rules, that tradition runs deep.

02:15In the 21st century, the foreign and domestic now blur together.

02:20These networks spread across borders like a stain, with cases that go on for months and even years on end,

02:28with tens or even thousands of, hundreds of thousands of pages of technical evidence.

02:35One case famously collapsing after almost two years in court at the cost of £25 million to the public purse.

02:41So judge-only trials in the most complex frauds will get justice moving faster and send a clear message.

02:50If you loot, if you launder, if you defraud the British people,

02:55you will be caught and tried by those who understand your tricks.