Tonight I shall be hamstringing the criminal justice system by working late on a serious case involving allegations of domestic violence. The file from the police is a shambles, but I will painstakingly do the jobs of both the police & CPS, and put this case together. For free.
For free? you might ask. Yes, for free. The hours, probably days, it will take me as prosecuting counsel to fix this case and advise on what needs doing - I don’t receive a penny for. If (as is common) the trial is moved by the court to a date I can’t do, I won’t be paid a thing.
This is how we hamstringing left-wing activists like to really stick two fingers up at the system. By working for hours on end, for free, to try to plug the gaps in the system created by @BorisJohnson and co, and try to ensure that people get justice.
Still, I’ll remember as I sit in my study, alone and apart from my family, as I do every night, that it’s this kind of shameless do-goodery that is causing the real problems in criminal justice.

And definitely not @BorisJohnson’s colossal mismanagement of the justice system.

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More from @BarristerSecret

7 Oct
I want to tell you about a criminal case I’ve been contacted about.

It’s not pleasant, but in light of @BorisJohnson’s comments yesterday, I think it’s important.

It’s not one of my cases, but it’s v similar to many I prosecute. It involves serious allegations of rape. [THREAD]
In early 2017, Annie, made a report of serious sexual offences to the police.

Two years later, in 2019, the case reached the Crown Court.

Why the delay?

Because @BorisJohnson’s party cut funding to the police and CPS, causing a logjam in police investigations.
This is sadly commonplace. In fact, this case is one of the lucky ones. Many cases I deal with - especially involving sexual allegations - go back to pre-2017, because the police simply don’t have the resources to progress investigations any quicker.

But anyway, back to 2019.
Read 19 tweets
6 Oct
In 2018 I published a book on how politicians have broken our criminal justice system.

In 2020 I published a book on how politicians lie to us about the law.

Still didn’t foresee this. The PM blaming us - the ones keeping the system running - for the state of criminal justice.
For years we have worked ourselves into ill-health, forsaking our families each weekend and late into the evening, for free, to keep the criminal justice system hanging together. Because @BorisJohnson’s party has destroyed justice and we, unlike some, feel a sense of public duty.
We have sat with distraught victims of the most serious crimes, having to apologetically explain that there is no justice for them, because @BorisJohnson and his pals have slashed the court budgets, the police, the CPS, probation - every part of the system. We pick up the pieces.
Read 8 tweets
4 Oct
Gather round, children.

The Mail on Sunday is pushing some vintage #FakeLaw today, with a classic reheating of some #LegalAidLies in the ongoing war on asylum seekers.

Let’s take a brief look. [THREAD]
The “scoop” is that a law firm, Duncan Lewis Solicitors, has been paid £55million in legal aid over the past three years.

Part of their work involves representing asylum seekers.

Hence the headline of “£55m for lawyer blocking deportation flights”.

But look closer.
Firstly, despite the focus in the article on the founder, this is a huge solicitors’ firm with over 800 staff and offices across the country. The headline “£55million for lawyer” implies that this sum went to one individual. It of course did not.

Lie number one.
Read 13 tweets
27 Sep
Some Sunday morning #FakeLaw to deconstruct, courtesy of our regular guest star, The Sun.

Buckle up, kids [THREAD]
1. Firstly, this man did not “spend £165,000”. That is a lie. This was the overall cost of legal aid in long-running serious criminal proceedings. This is like saying someone who receives a NHS heart transplant is “spends” the cost of the operation. It’s nonsensical.
2. In any case, readers are invited to conclude that £165,000 is too much to spend on this case.

But the journalist has not bothered to tell you any of the context that you would need to even *begin* to assess whether that cost is too high, too low, or about right. Such as...
Read 19 tweets
15 Sep
I prosecute and defend the most dangerous criminals. I speak daily with victims of crime.

And I can tell you that there has never been as good a time to be a criminal as under @BorisJohnson’s government.
.@BorisJohnson has refused point blank to resource the courts. His government has cut court capacity, causing a backlog of over half a million cases.

When Covid hit and made things even worse, @BorisJohnson still refused to make money available to assist the courts.
There is now typically a delay of 2 to 3 years between a crime being reported and a case coming to trial. In that time, witnesses’ memories fade. Many lose faith and disappear. So cases collapse.

If I were a guilty criminal, I would raise a toast to @BorisJohnson every day.
Read 4 tweets
13 Sep
“Seeing justice truly done” is an interesting soundbite.

Is it, as this incoherent, sub-sixth-form essay rant suggests, only about locking more people up for longer?

Or does “justice truly done” mean a little more?

[THREAD]
Justice truly done means people not being forced to wait years for trials due to the government’s long-term refusal to resource the courts, which has caused a huge backlog (that they are falsely trying to blame on Covid). lawgazette.co.uk/news/new-figur…
Justice truly done means abolishing the Innocence Tax, by which the government refuses you legal aid, forces you to pay privately for your legal defence team and then, when you’re acquitted, refuses to reimburse you, leaving you penniless. thetimes.co.uk/article/ditch-…
Read 16 tweets

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