Most licence fee prosecutions being dealt with in secret

THE BBC was at the centre of a secretjustice row last night as it emerged more than eight in 10 alleged licence fee evaders are prosecuted behind closed doors without registering a plea.

Ministry of Justice (MOJ) data show that from 2016 to 2019 the number of cases decided in secret by a single magistrate without the defendant appearing before them or having legal representation doubled.

The proportion dealt with through the single justice procedure (SJP) rose from 40 per cent of TV licence cases in 2016 (69,000) to 98 per cent in 2019 (126,500).

The rise coincided with a significant increase in the proportion of defendants registering neither a guilty nor a not guilty plea, up from 79 per cent to 86 per cent, even though this means they could be fined up to £1,000 in their absence by a magistrate sitting alone.

The disclosures will intensify calls for reforms of the SJP to provide more open and transparent hearings to prevent miscarriages of justice.

Yesterday The Daily Telegraph disclosed that a record 60 per cent of cases heard by magistrates were being held in secret.

Sir Bob Neill, Conservative chairman of the all-party Commons justice committee, said that even if it required more administrative work, it was essential that a legal adviser sat with magistrates at all times.

“It should also be more open to the public and the press and that there should be a means of accredited press access so that there is … some public accountability,” he added.

Appeal, a charity campaigning for the decriminalisation of the licence fee, said 70 per cent of those prosecuted for non-payment of it were women and many of them were vulnerable.

The BBC said the average fine was £198 but courts can also demand prosecution costs – normally £120 – that take no account of defendants’ ability to pay.

A spokesman for TV Licensing, a trademark of the BBC used by companies contracted to administer licence fee collection, said: “Prosecution is a last resort and the majority of first-time offenders are not prosecuted if they buy a licence before their court date.”

♦ Protesters who attended a Clapham Common vigil in March last year for Sarah Everard, who was raped and murdered by Wayne Couzens, a serving Met police officer, were yesterday fined £200 each and ordered to pay £100 in court costs and a £34 victim surcharge.

The cases for breaches of Covid-19 regulations against Dania Al-obeid, 27, from Stratford, London, Ben Wheeler, 21, from Kennington, London, and Kevin Godin-prior, 68, from Manchester, were heard behind closed doors, via a single justice procedure, at Westminster magistrates’ court last Wednesday.