Jess Phillips backs jury bill as she reveals she is ‘victim of courts backlog’ | Violence against women and girls
The case of a man accused of breaching a restraining order involving Jess Phillips will not be heard in the crown court until 2028, the Labor Secretary has called on MPs to support measures to cancel some jury trials.
Phillips stated that he has “100 percent” support for the courts and tribunals bill, and said that his personal experiences show that the “broken” court system is used to delay hearings and control those who commit violence against women.
“I am a victim of backlogs and I know what it feels like to be a victim of crime,” Phillips told the Guardian. “I see the court system being used to control victims all the time; it’s a well-known tactic among people who study stalking and it needs to change.”
Phillips said he believed the alleged breach of the order should have been dealt with in the magistrates’ court and he did not know why the case had been sent to the crown court.
“It’s okay with me. I have extra security, I have other bodyguards,” he said. “But imagine if this was a breach of an order against an abusive ex-husband and the case would be heard more than two years later. Are you kidding? This is clearly a mental state.”
Without measures to limit jury trials, Phillips said the bill had little chance of reducing the growing workload at the crown court, which has reached record highs of 80,000 cases and means some defendants charged today may not be tried until 2030.
“Attrition means the bad guys get away with it. It leaves rapists on the street,” he said. “It’s terrible that a rape victim who has the courage to come forward has to wait years, but if he gets out of the system it also means that person can rape someone else.”
The government faces the prospect of one of the most serious backlashes since coming to power on Tuesday as MPs vote on the general principles of measures in the courts and tribunals bill during the second reading.
Plans to limit the number of jury trials in England and Wales were described as “unpopular, untested and insufficient evidence” by thousands of lawyers in a letter to the prime minister this week. Efforts by Justice Secretary David Lammy to change the mind of Karl Turner, a banker and a leading Labor figure opposed to the plans, failed after they met on Monday night.
Lammy also came under pressure from Jo Hamilton, one of the former post office operators wrongfully convicted in the Post Office’s Horizon IT scandal, who said his plans would “further erode trust in the institution”.
Lammy and justice secretary Sarah Sackman are understood to be determined to push ahead with plans proposed by Brian Leveson in their current form, including proposals for a new criminal court where judges will hear cases on their own, judge-only hearings for offenses carrying a maximum prison sentence of two years or less, and judge-only hearings for complex fraud cases.
If the bill is approved, it will also remove the automatic right to object from magistrates’ courts, which Phillips described as a “weapon” used against herself and other survivors of gender-based crimes.
Describing an earlier case, Phillips said she was “genuinely stunned” that a man found guilty of harassing her and threatening to kill her “could control me like that” after she appealed the verdict at the crown court.
“This is a man who wishes I were dead and says he can’t go to work today. You can’t pick up your kids from school. You’re going to go where I tell you today. This felt like a terrible power over me,” he said. “It was horrible and I hated it and I was really upset about it. What if this happens to women who are abused by controlling ex-partners?”
A group of 40 female Labor MPs, including former women and equalities minister Anneliese Dodds, wrote to Lammy on Monday, urging her to “remain committed” to reforms.
“Painful and growing waiting lists in our courts mean that a woman reporting domestic violence or coercive control today may be told her hearing will not come to court until 2030,” they wrote. “This is unacceptable.”
Natalie Fleet, Labor MP for Bolsover and a victim of grooming and rape, said the “status quo” in the courts needed to be disrupted. “This is a difficult bill but it will become law and the difference it will make for women and girls is huge,” she said.
