STRIKE action by barristers that is causing Crown Court cases to be adjourned is a stark warning about government failure to invest in the courts system by putting criminal justice on the back burner, a leading Bradford lawyer said today.

Abigail Langford, head of the Criminal Team at the city’s Broadway House Chambers in Little Germany, was speaking out during another week of action by barristers.

The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) began carrying out days of industrial action in June in protest at the government’s proposals on legal aid. The nationwide action on alternate weeks resumed on Monday with cases having to be adjourned.

Since April, hundreds of criminal barristers across the country have adopted a ‘no returns’ policy, meaning that if they are unavailable to attend court their cases cannot be passed on to another barrister. It is part of a drive to uplift rates by twenty five per cent.

At Bradford Crown Court this week, a teenager due to be sentenced for dangerous driving had his case adjourned because he had no barrister to represent him. The 18-year-old from Bradford had committed the offence more than a year ago.

A second case to fall victim to the action was that of a man in his late 60s due to have a case management hearing for a series of sexual allegations dating back at least four years. His case went off because his barrister wasn’t there.

But two important high-profile trials at the court centre have been successfully concluded recently with no disruption.

Last month, the lengthy Kian Tordoff murder trial ended with some convictions and sentencings in relation to the brutal killing of the 19-year-old in Bradford.

And the jury last week found Thomas Nutt guilty of murdering his new bride Dawn Walker and dumping her body in a suitcase.

Miss Langford, a barrister for the Crown in the Nutt trial, told the Telegraph & Argus: “I think that for me the important message about the strike action is that it is not about how much an individual barrister 'takes home’. Everyone recognises the impact of the cost of living, and that there are huge disparities in our society, which in an ideal world would not exist.

“What this is about is a failure to invest by the government. That is investment in the system, the court buildings, and all those who work within the justice system. There are simply not enough barristers to do the work required.

“That has been the result of years of putting criminal justice on the back burner. Allowing courts to sit empty and backlogs to pile up, making the work demands of those still in the system untenable.

“Criminal justice is seen by many as something that ‘won’t affect me’ but sadly it is a system that is only ever considered at the point of need, which is too late.

“The justice system needs investment. It needs technology, staff at court, and an environment that encourages those who qualify to want to practice in this area of law as juniors.

“What we say can quite possibly be ignored as ‘having a moan’ about work. But the stark reality is that people are voting with their feet.

“In ten years’ time there may be no one to prosecute that child cruelty case. Or defend your son for rape. It will then be too late.”