Where's the justice?

Heart-rending letters from elderly in court for trivial offences are ignored under single justice procedure

- Tristan Kirk

WRITTEN appeals from the vulnerable and elderly who are charged with minor crimes are not routinely looked at by prosecutors in a “broken” secret justice system, an Evening Standard investigation has found.

Hundreds of thousands of cases a year are dealt with behind closed doors in the single justice procedure (SJP), a fast-track courts system used for controversial TV licence prosecutions as well as low-level offences like not paying road tax.

Defendants can write to the court after being charged, with some explaining how they fell foul of the law when their lives were in turmoil, they were ill, struggling with their mental health, or impoverished. But due to the design of the courts system, prosecuting bodies do not routinely read those letters to decide whether a case is in the public interest.

The Standard’s investigation uncovered a catalogue of defendants — some in their eighties and nineties — who were convicted despite having strong reasons for not paying their bills. They include:

⬤ A cancer-stricken pensioner with memory problems who was prosecuted after forgetting to pay his TV licence.

⬤ A woman with dementia taken to court by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) for not paying £1.67 at a time when she suffered strokes.