Thousands to lose right to opt for trial by jury in radical overhaul

Criminals will be stopped from "gaming the system" by choosing trial by jury in order to increase the chances of proceedings collapsing, the courts minister has said, promising to enact radical changes to limit jury trials by the next election.

- Jessica Elgot Deputy political editor

Drug dealers and career criminals were "laughing in the dock" knowing that cases can take years to come to trial, Sarah Sackman said, while warning that inaction would be a road to "chaos and ruin".

Ministers will legislate to remove the right to trial by jury for thousands of cases in one of the biggest and most controversial overhauls of the justice system in England and Wales in generations - promising the changes will significantly shrink the court backlog by 2029.

The Ministry of Justice is braced for a backlash from barristers and the judiciary as it presses ahead with the measures to tackle a backlog of nearly 80,000 cases, which will create a proposed new judge-only division of the crown court to hear some cases.

Sackman said the "stakes are incredibly high" as she prepared to announce early next month that vast numbers of cases will now be heard by judges and magistrates rather than juries, a response to recommendations in a review by Sir Brian Leveson.

Speaking at Wood Green crown court, Sackman said victims of severe sexual assault were routinely told it could take four years for their cases to come to court.