Janet Carter says defendants charged with ‘indictable offences’ should appear directly in crown court to avoid delays and duplication of resources

I agree with Anthony Rogers, the chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service, that one answer to dealing with the crown court backlog is to consider whether more cases can be dealt with in the magistrates court ( Crown court backlog in England and Wales ‘could hit 100,000 without radical overhaul’, 1 November ). On the other side of the coin, there are consistently between 5,000 and 6,000 cases a quarter that the law currently demands are listed in the magistrates court even though there is no power to deal with trials or sentences. These are the most serious offences known as “indictable only” offences, such as rape and robbery.

Inevitably, there is no progress on first listing and the case is adjourned on to the crown court a few weeks later. Delays and duplications of resources right across the board are inevitable with these cases.