How Covid-19 brought Hull courts shuddering to a halt
FROM MONTHS OF DELAYS TO PORTACABINS IN CAR PARK
LAST year, everything was thrown into chaos and life changed beyond recognition.
Every person had to change their life in some way to keep themselves and their loved ones safe and to stop the spread of coronavirus, which has killed tens of thousands across the UK.
As life changed, so did crime, and our justice system had to adapt to ensure the law was upheld.
The rate of burglaries went down, as everyone stayed at home, but police received more reports of domestic violence.
Crime didn’t stop, it just changed, and as we all adapted, so did offenders.
There was already a backlog in cases getting to court, with victims sometimes waiting years to see justice carried out – and the pandemic made that wait even longer.
In March last year, the decision was made to stop any new jury trials going ahead.
They restarted again in June, but looked very different.
Courts across the country underwent makeovers to ensure social distancing was kept up. New technology was brought in ahead of schedule to protect court staff, victims, witnesses and others and portacabins were put in court car parks to make sure jurors were spread out adequately.
Hull Crown Court was also part of a pilot scheme and ran on extended hours to make sure it got through more trials. A courtroom could host two at the same time, with the first trial sitting between 9am to 1pm, and a second in an afternoon sitting from 2pm to 6pm.
It is now storming ahead and has got through the backlog of trials left in the wake of the pause between March and June last year. Not only that, four of its courtrooms are being used, meaning its capacity is greater than many courts across the country.
Operations manager for the Humber, Andy Field, said: “We were one of the first courts to get the portacabins in September and the extended operating hours pilot allowed us to sit between 9am and 1pm and 2pm and 6pm.
“That first month we got through 30 trials. That allowed us to make some good inroads.”
Judge John Thackray QC has been able to observe the changes since the start of the pandemic, some of which are the biggest challenges he has seen in his 28-year career.
The judge, originally from west Yorkshire, trained in London and did his pupillage with Wilberforce Chambers in Hull, where he has made his career.
He was a prosecution and defence barrister for 25 years, was a full-time circuit judge for two years, and became a resident judge last year. He says, since starting, he has “enjoyed almost every minute of it”.
He says his favourite part of being a judge is sitting on trials.
Speaking about the effect the pandemic has had on courts across the country, Judge Thackray said the north eastern circuit is “doing really well” and Hull Crown Court is listing cases in good time, before the end of the custody time limit for all defendants.
He said: “We’ve only just started listing cases into next year. We’re in a good position and we’re able to prioritise the more sensitive cases.”
A lot of courts are already looking one or two years ahead for their listings.
Adapting to the pandemic, Judge Thackray said, was a “very significant challenge”.
He says an advantage was the introduction of CVP (Cloud Video Platform) - a video link that allows those involved in the case to watch and participate in proceedings from wherever they are in the world.
This was further helped by the Section 28 procedure, which means vulnerable witnesses can be cross-examined over CVP in advance of a trial.
Andy says building work is also being done at the court to make sure it is running at its full capacity – as it also plays host to civil cases.
Judge Thackray says at first, the working things out and planning for trials was “quite daunting”.
He said: “We had to accommodate social distancing and make allowances for those who are particularly vulnerable. I can’t give enough praise to the staff. Just thinking about the ushers for the moment and how harder they have had to work, and continue to work. They even used to get the jurors from one place but now they are dotted around the building and are all distanced.
“For example, we started a longrunning trial two weeks ago where we needed 40 potential jurors. We couldn’t just put them in one room. We have to make sure everyone feels safe and is safe and it’s a big task for all of the staff.”
When jurors are sworn in, they now sit in their seats with screens between them, but when trials first started back up, they were spread across the courtroom, often sitting in the public gallery or on press bench.
Judge Thackray said: “There’s things you don’t think of. Like, if a barrister stands up, will a juror be able to see. Can the juror see the witness or defendant that they really need to see, can the witnesses see them.”
The judge says CVP has helped with the challenges put on courts by the pandemic.
He said: “It’s got easier, it has helped and we’ve used it to the best of our ability. We have been really flexible about defendants and counsel being in court. It reduces the footfall in the court and increases capacity. We will get closer to how things were, but we will take advantage of how we can do things remotely.”
While many reports on how the courts are coping with the stresses of the pandemic are put out into the world, it has always been a relief to know that in Hull, the wheels of justice continue to move in good time and staff working there are doing their very best to ensure that doesn’t fall behind.