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David Beckham is being dealt with tomorrow for driving while on the phone under the Single Justice Procedure - behind closed doors & under a blanket of secrecy. It's a system @HMCTSgovuk and @MoJGovUK want to roll out more widely, but is an affront to #OpenJustice at the moment:
Beckham's case does not appear on the court list issued to journalists in advance. So presumably all other SJP cases are also not listed. We have long since stopped receiving the outcomes of SJP cases from courts in London.
At best we can find out whether Beckham pleads guilty, and if he does, his punishment. But unlike all other court cases where there's an actual hearing, we'll never know the circumstances of the offence, mitigation offered by the defendant, and why the punishment was reached.
With SJP cases, journalists and the public can never sit in on hearings and requests to do so are routinely turned down. There is no system in place to request access to paperwork from the case.
Adding to the secrecy now is the court service's new 'contact centre', which has been set up to deal with enquiries. While sometimes helpful, it means it's now impossible to speak to a court directly over the phone.
Today, I was told 'David Beckham's case is being dealt with by SJP at Bromley tomorrow', but the contact centre could not tell me any further details about the case against him, including what he is accused of.
In an added layer of the bizarre, the contact centre worker suggested Beckham's case may have been restricted because he is famous. To find out more, she suggested I should attend the private hearing at Bromley magistrates court myself...
I'm very aware that in the grand scheme of things, Beckham's case is fairly irrelevant. But the point is the Single Justice Procedure is routinely championed by the MoJ, with the effect on Open Justice ignored. And this way of handling court hearings is being extended.
I'm flagging up Beckham's case precisely because he is famous and people take notice. Under the reform plans as I understand them, more and more cases will disappear into secrecy.
