Courts urged to allow in cameras in bid to tame aggressive barristers

BRINGING cameras into courtrooms would tame “aggressive barristers”, the Victims’ Commissioner has said.

Letting news organisations film inside courts could stop complainants and witnesses being harangued by overzealous lawyers, said Baroness Newlove.

Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, she warned that filming in court needed to be “handled with care and sensitivity”, but could be a way to improve the justice system.

“Hopefully, it might change the behaviours of some of the key participants, such as aggressive barristers or defendants who show contempt for the justice process,” she said.

Sir Ian Burnett, Lord Chief Justice in England and Wales, has said he wants to improve court transparency in order to grow public understanding.

Last year a pilot scheme filmed sentencing remarks made by judges in some cases, but the footage has not been broadcast.

At a press conference last year, the first since his appointment, he said the scheme had shown that “some people behave differently in court if they know that something is being recorded.” He also admitted that the idea was “not without some difficulty” and could expose judges to risks.

Earlier this year he announced plans to live-stream selected civil cases being heard in the court of appeal, telling the Lords Constitution Committee that the judiciary “want the public to understand better what we do”. He has also supported proposals to broadcast judges’ sentencing remarks from the Crown Court.

Currently hearings are only broadcast from the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, and extending this would require a change in the law.

Baroness Newlove warned that any filming should not undermine the anonymity of victims in sexual offences cases or involve cases where children or vulnerable adults were victims. “Decisions whether to allow the cameras in would need to be taken carefully and on a case-by-case basis,” she said. “However, I recognise that there are benefits to opening the court room to cameras.

“It will shine a light on our justice system and in doing so, it will increase public awareness. This would be a good thing,” she added. Her comments come as a new documentary is set to become the first to use footage taken during Court of Appeal cases.

Producers of the ITV programme Inside the Court of Appeal have said they hope the documentary, which covers three cases and includes interviews with defendants and victims, will be a “breakthrough” in efforts to extend the number of courts which allow filming.

Chris Henley, vice chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, which represents criminal barristers, said that the interests of vulnerable witnesses and the importance of a fair trial “would need extremely sensitive and vigilant consideration if it was ultimately proposed to televise, live or recorded, proceedings in the Crown Court on a more routine basis.”

‘It will shine a light on our justice system and increase public awareness. This would be a good thing.’