Defendants told their cases pushed back due to indefinite barristers strike
Hearings at Crown Courts across the region are being adjourned as barristers industrial actions hit the justice system.
Barristers in England and Wales began the indefinite strike, in an escalation of the dispute with the Government over pay which started in April.
Court cases due to be heard in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stafford are among those being affected.
The Criminal Bar Association which represents barristers wants a 25per cent rise in legal aid fees for representing defendants who could not otherwise afford to pay lawyers.
Intermittent industrial action since June has already led to court delays and the government says there are tens of thousands of cases already waiting to go to trial.
At Wolverhampton Crown Court, visiting judge, John Edwards apologised to several defendants that there was no-one in court to represent them because of the industrial action as he set new dates fir them to return.
He told three defendants, who were due to be sentenced jointly for charges relating to assault and public disorder in Dudley: "I am sorry that you cannot be sentenced. You will understand that the barristers are in dispute with the Government.
"You have to be represented for a case of this gravity."
The government has offered a 15 per cent rise from the end of September, which the Criminal Bar Association has rejected, saying it would not kick in soon enough or apply to existing cases.
It says the criminal justice system has been run down by years of underfunding, with some junior barristers making less than the hourly minimum wage and more than a quarter having quit the profession in the past five years.
Michelle Heeley QC, leader of the Midlands Circuit who serves at the courts, said: "For the last several months, the CBA has attempted to motivate the Government through a variety of actions to bring attention to the low pay junior barristers under three years call receive in this country.
"For just £12,700 a year, these young and eager professionals work an average of 60-hour weeks. That equals just over £4 an hour. Both prosecuting and defending members of the public, junior barristers uphold our right of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ for less than minimum wage.
