𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Justice Secretary David Lammy said juries remain “fundamental” as he is expected to set out plans to curb their use to tackle the backlog of cases in courts.

He told BBC Breakfast he was looking at expanding magistrates’ powers for them to take on more serious cases and whether defendants in “either way” cases should be able to choose to have a jury trial.

Mr Lammy said: “So, should we be asking our magistrates to deal with more cases? That’s one of the questions that I’m looking at and I’ll be answering this afternoon.

“And then there’s a group of cases where you can get up to five years.

“Generally speaking, they’re called triable either-way cases, and also where a defendant can opt to have a jury, and I’m looking at that.

“What I mean by that is, if you steal an iPhone this afternoon from Currys, should you be able to opt to have a jury?

“The trial may take two days, and inevitably, that will cause further delay for more serious and egregious crimes like rape or murder.

“So that’s the question that I’ve been looking at and that’s what I’ll be announcing later on today.

“I want to be absolutely clear, juries remain fundamental to our system.”