Judge: Criminal justice system is faltering thanks to 'chronic underfunding'

Recorder of Stafford Simon Tonking's sent out a parting shot to spell out the damage Government cuts have done to the courts.

According to the judge, there are now not enough people left to cope with the workload leading to wasted time in court proceedings.

It comes two months after Midlands Judge Michael Dudley also raised fears over funding cuts in a retiring speech.

Mr Tonking said: "I have felt increasingly beleaguered on two fronts, the first, which reflects the facts and is not made as any kind of political point, is the effect of the chronic underfunding of the criminal justice system.

"Often sold under the banner of 'efficiency', this has had quite the reverse effect - and in the process has done very real damage to morale, not only of the judiciary, but much more importantly to that of staff in the courts, in the probation service, in the CPS and in the legal profession.

"The result of this underfunding is that there are no longer enough people to cope with the workload; and as a result not only are judicial directions frequently disobeyed but time - often measured in hours rather than minutes is lost; to the deep frustration of all those in court, not least complainants, witnesses and even some defendants.

"No amount of case management, however robust; or criticism from the bench; or technology will eradicate this - and although it is tempting - a temptation to which I confess I have sometimes succumbed - to blame those who work in the CPS, or the probation service, or the police, or the lawyers, it is naive and wrong to do so, not least because almost without exception all of them are doing their very best to keep what is now a faltering system going."

"The second front, which is even more fundamental - and which has its origins in the first - is that increasing attempts have been and are being made to manage the criminal justice system with process, protocols and statistics.

"And here lies very real danger, first because it tends to take responsibility for the criminal justice system away from the judiciary and put it into the hands of the administration, which is not an arm of the judiciary but of the state; and secondly because it obscures and erodes the things which are the most important - and not at all susceptible to statistical analysis - these being to do justice and to treat one's fellow human beings, whoever they are, with humanity."

Judge Tonking, who has spent just under 40 years at the Bar, the last 18 as a judge, was praised and thanked by colleagues, including Mrs Justice Thirwall and Mr Richard Atkins QC, Leader of the Midland Circuit, in a valediction at Stafford Crown Court.