Dementia victim is latest to fall foul of fast-track courts

DEMENTIA sufferers continue to face criminal prosecution in the fast-track single justice procedure despite internal advice that magistrates should stop the cases, the Standard can reveal.

- Tristan Kirk

Hundreds of thousands of convictions are handed out each year in court hearings that take place behindclosed-doors, in a justice system that magistrates themselves say is broken and in urgent need of reform. An investigation by the Standard has uncovered a litany of cases brought against vulnerable people, the sick and the elderly, where they faced injustice and harsh treatment due to the fast-track nature of the system. In the latest case, a 75-year-old pensioner from Dorking, Surrey, was convicted after the insurance lapsed on a car she had long since stopped driving. Her daughter wrote to the court, setting out how she had power of attorney for her mother due to the onset of Parkinson’s and dementia. She said her mother had a certificat