An arts centre and two hotels are the latest venues to be turned into Nightingale courts to help ease pressure on the justice system, the Ministry of Justice has announced today. The Lowry Theatre in Salford, Jury’s Inn Middlesbrough and the Hilton Hotel in York will begin hearing non-custodial crime cases, as well as civil, family and tribunals work, from next week. Another five venues – in Chester, Liverpool, Bristol, Winchester and Cirencester – will be confirmed in the next few weeks.

The lord chancellor has promised a 'fundamental shift’ in the government’s approach to sentencing, which includes longer time in prison for violent and sexual offenders but also rehabilitation measures such as problem-solving courts.

A Judge who has attacked the Ministry of Justice’s slow response to the coronavirus crisis has alleged that he was put under 'improper and undue pressure' by senior judges to decide a case.

A Crown court judge has accused the government of 'systemic failure' for not conducting trials in a reasonable time. Judge Keith Raynor, at Woolwich Crown Court, refused to further extend the custody time limit for a teenager who had been held in prison waiting for his trial for 321 days.

Defendants could be locked up for longer to tackle jury trial delays caused by the pandemic as the government unveiled an £80m recovery plan for the criminal courts. 

The Home Office has deleted its tweet claiming that ‘activist lawyers’ were undermining the deportation of migrants – but the clash between government and the legal profession shows no signs of easing.