PCC slams bid to axe many rights to jury trial

POLICE PROPOSAL EMERGED IN BID TO CUT HUGE BACKLOG

- By STAFF REPORTER

A SENIOR police official has launched a stinging attack on the government's plans to abolish trial by jury in all but the most serious crimes.

Rupert Matthews, Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, has written to the Justice Secretary, David Lammy, to say said the removal of the right to be judged by a jury would be "an act of vandalism against the moral architecture of our democracy".

Mr Matthews, pictured, pointed out that, only a few years ago, Mr Lammy, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said plainly and proudly that jury trials are a fundamental part of our democratic settlement and that criminal trials without juries were a bad idea.