I spent years in criminal courts
I led prosecutions
I believe in trial by #jury
I always have
We are in a national justice emergency
Victims wait years
Defendants wait too long
Witnesses forget, lose faith, and drop away
Cases collapse
There is no cavalry coming over the hill
1/9 Most Crown Court cases will end in a guilty plea
Two out of three
Yet we assemble jury pools, schedule lengthy slots & prepare every point as if each charge faces a contested trial. Most do not

A fair trial is a right
A jury trial for every charge is not, it never has been

Let me clarify an issue:
I was told by some officers that Home Office Circular 17/2008 had led to others interpreting it as permitting them to allow a child, past the age of puberty, to continue engaging in sexual activity where the officer perceived them to understand dangers The problems in the U.K. in dealing with the sexual abuse of children including so called grooming gangs were exacerbated by the fact that British laws used the term “child prostitution” until 2013.
We told ministers to change that immediately & Parliament eventually did

As European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) uses the Convention to prevent refugees being sent to Rwanda, remember this
ECHR has nothing to do with the EU & Brexit
Convention was proposed by Churchill & drafted by mainly British lawyers to fight fascism
if Johnson’s Govt withdraws.. NOBODY is flying to Rwanda tonight

That would ordinarily save us £1/2 million but knowing this Govt they’ve probably contracted to pay it already without a cancellation clause!

Prince Andrew has settled the claim by Virginia Guiffre that he sexually assaulted her - to avoid a trial

He is willing to pay her large sums of money to her for something he denies

Make of that what you will It’s a credit to Ms Guiffre that she has insisted all the money goes to her charities in support of victims rights

Before it’s spun to suggest Prince Andrew is giving a donation to charity, remember he could do that anytime he wanted

This is no “donation”
This is “blood money”

So according to Tory MP Nick Fletcher, a woman replacing a male “Dr Who, OO7 & Luke Skywalker” has left men with no choice but to emulate violent role models
Clearly, the millions of violent men that predated this didn’t exist

What a load of Bull****
He’s reading his speech - before he claims that he misspoke

Does he really believe that the only role models left for men are the ‘Shelbys & Krays?’

On #EliminationofViolenceAgainstWomen day, he makes excuses for violent men

Not fit to represent

With Guilty Pleas to Murder, Rape & Kidnapping, I hope Sarah Everard’s family will find some little comfort in knowing that justice has been done

There are BIG questions for @metpoliceuk & for wider society that we must confront

Why do men do what we do?
theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/j… The “not all men” posters are, of course right BUT violent men do not operate in a vacuum.
None of the 100s of rapists I prosecuted were driven by sex, it was always ‘power & control’
It was always misogyny
A belief that they were entitled
That we don’t tackle enough or at all

I don’t see Dominic Cummings as a whistleblower, I see him as a participating informant
A “grass”
In my experience, they tell the truth, particularly when they’ve kept the receipts
#selectcommittee Thursday 12 March. Cummings text to Johnson "we've got big problems... we're looking at 100k to 500k deaths if we delay"

On the same day the Govt stopped Community Testing
My brother couldn’t get tested unless he was in hospital, hospital was full
He died at home alone on 8/4

There are no BAME

Chief Constables
CEOs top 50 NHS trusts
Perm Secs
Supreme Court Justices
CEOs top 15 Sporting bodies
CEOs top financial institutions
Handful Of Vice- Chancellors & managing partners of law & accountancy firms
& list goes on

And there is no Racism
#whitewash Commission on Race & Ethnic disparities says racism exists but is mainly confined to the online world

It may have been overlooked that this online abuse is delivered by Real Racists in Real racist institutions & Real racist neighbourhoods

Oh, racial attacks are pretty real too

1. The Derek Chauvin trial starts today
2. It is NOT the George Floyd trial - he is not there
3. What Floyd was convicted of before his death is entirely irrelevant
4. Chauvin & the other cops did NOT do a background check before they stood on his neck
5. Floyd was the victim By public demand I will be generally updating you on the trial
1. Where are the other accused cops? Their trials are after this one
2. The jury has been selected - a tough exercise as they have to be open minded despite all the publicity
3. Prosecutors have hedged their bets

Some explaining to do Home Office
£107K at eyebrow company
£864 at hairdressers during lockdown
£5K at Primark would buy most of floor’s stock
£8K at Pollyanna restaurant is some party
£37Bn on Track & Trace
It’s not good enough to say they followed process
This is public money Home Office belatedly say “it was hand sanitisers & clothes for asylum seekers”
Which begs another question

Why is a Dept with multi billion pound procurement budget so ill- prepared that it sends Priti Patel’s staff down to the shops with a credit card & some discount vouchers?

We’ve long known that politics in the U.K. & US wouldn’t be believable as fiction, even in The Thick Of It or Veep

Trumps team booked the wrong Four Seasons, not the Hotel.
Here is Rudy Giuliani announcing Trump’s legal action in the Four Seasons Landscaping company car park The Four Seasons Hotel distanced themselves from Four Seasons Landscaping
The Adult Bookstore selling dildos next door to Four Seasons Landscaping & the Crematorium across the road couldn’t be reached for comment

Dominic Cummings a thread:
The big divide was never between black & white, nor men & women, nor north & south
It's between those with power & those without
The power differential is the greatest cause of inequality

Like 60,000 others my late brother was 1 of the powerless My experience tells me that there have to be consequences for law breaking otherwise the public lose confidence in those meant to enforce the law, and lose trust in the law itself
The powerful must be dealt with without fear or favour

Doubt there are many Black or Asians who haven’t experienced racism
I grew up hiding from skinheads on my street & racists at my school
I thought I hid it well from my parents until I came home after being attacked by 3 white boys, the injuries were too visible & the pain deep I wrongly assumed that as a lawyer I wouldn’t experience it again, but I was naive
Whether it was promotion being denied when people thought I was the best candidate
The lack of appreciation when I worked evenings & weekends w/o a break to ensure the public were engaged with

Our Inconvenience is Not Oppression
It’s incompetence that has been killing us

I despair at amateurish response so far from much of this Govt during a time when our citizens are at greatest risk
Complexity will lead to Confusion

Sadly, I see more dead people💔
#BorisJohnson 1. You have to go to work, but your children can’t go to school
2 Don’t use public transport
3. You can do stuff in England that you can’t do in Wales or Scotland

A guy messaged me to say “I always spoked sense” & if I remembered him from school

Strangely, I did because he was 1 of the racist bullies I had to face

I wrote back with thanks for helping me become the man I am - one that stands up to bullies like him

He apologised 40 yrs on I forgave him
He was a child too
Hate is learnt behaviour, you do not hate when you are born