A backlog of 1700 cases. But are Liverpool’s courts among its greatest strengths?

Dear readers — earlier this week, Abi found herself in court. About bloody time, many of you may be thinking, but we’re pleased to say on this occasion she wasn’t in the dock.

Over the past six months, the news has been dominated with headlines about Britain’s broken court system. Delays in crown court trials have reached an all time high, with hundreds of victims of serious crime waiting for justice for up to five years. The data pored over by newspapers appears to show that everywhere in this country has a big problem on their hands. Don’t they? 

Well — not quite. In today’s piece, Abi headed down to Liverpool’s Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts to find out more about the delays to court hearings, and if justice secretary David Lammy’s plans to cut some jury trials is really the antidote. Surprisingly, Liverpool paints a different picture to what you might expect — described by barristers as the “gold standard” in a country riddled with backlogs. Read on to find out more. 

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Ciao to Cooper: Alas, careers in politics are so often fleeting. But usually not quite as fleeting as that of Sefton councillor Jay Cooper. Reform candidate Cooper was elected to serve the ward of Bootle West last week, despite social media posts surfacing of him making anti-Semitic comments denying the Holocaust. In an interview shortly after his election, Reform leader Nigel Farage said he was “not welcome” in the party. Now, Cooper has confirmed he has resigned from Reform, and will instead continue as an independent councillor. In an apology posted online this week, Cooper said he had “visited Auschwitz multiple times” and "sincerely apologise[s]" for his comments. A tough week for Cooper. Good job he can kick back and relax on holiday in Milan all week long.

And if the story of Reform in Merseyside couldn’t get any wilder: Today, The Echo broke the news that one of St Helens’ new Reform councillors is also a…porn star. You heard us. Councillor Stephen Mousdell was elected last Thursday to serve Haydock, but before embarking on his political career Mousdell appears to have produced porn under the alias Lachlan Taylor UK. On his now locked X account, you can find links to his OnlyFans, as well as clips of hardcore pornography he’s featured in on Pornhub and ManSurfer. In response to the news, Reform UK stood behind Mousdell, writing that his “lifestyle choices may not be to everyone’s taste, [but] he has not broken the law. What consenting adults do in their private lives is their own business.”

A backlog of 1700 cases. But are Liverpool’s courts among its greatest strengths?

As I walk into Liverpool’s Queen Elizabeth II Courts on a rainy Tuesday morning, I’m met with a staccato of beeps. It’s just past 9am.  A steady queue of people wait to have their belongings searched by security. The scanners hum as bags are rifled through; metal detectors set off by earrings, watches and buckles.

Unlike getting through security at John Lennon Airport, the queue here moves fast. Within five minutes I’m in the reception area, a large carpeted room with yellow “cleaning in progress” signs, strung together with tape. While the day doesn’t begin until 10.30am, half a dozen people are already downstairs, squinting to read the court lists that have been taped haphazardly to the wall. 

For the last few months, I’ve seen report after report about growing court backlogs across the country. Figures published earlier this year by the Ministry of Justice revealed crown court backlogs hit nearly 80,000, with over 300,000 outstanding cases in magistrates’ courts. 

In Liverpool, the number of cases currently waiting to be heard in the crown court is 1,735. MP Sarah Sackman told the Echo two years ago there was "nothing short of a crisis in the crown court system" in Merseyside, while director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson described wait times as "probably worse than I’ve ever known them to be".

As a result of the delays, in December justice secretary David Lammy announced that jury trials for crimes carrying a likely sentence of under three years would be scrapped. These cases would be put in front of a judge, with magistrates courts also picking up some of the crown court’s caseload.

Given the apparent crisis, it is surprising to see Liverpool’s courts so calm. I’d expected to see barristers anxiously running between rooms, one hand bearing the weight of the day’s paperwork and the other held onto their wigs. Instead, when I head up to the third floor — where some of the crown court cases are held — all I can hear is the gentle hum of air conditioning. Despite just half an hour to go before the first trial is underway, I’m the only person sitting outside the court room. 

Ten minutes later, one of the defendants sits down near me along with his family. He’s accused of assault by beating, he says, and his trial begins today. He tells me he’s been waiting about a year for his day in court (“not too bad”) and that his barrister has reassured him his case will be done and dusted by the end of the week. 

Indeed, when I speak to his barrister (who has asked not to be named), he explains that Liverpool “rarely ever” gets hit with delays like other cities. “If a case is set to happen one week, it absolutely will happen that week,” he says. He also works in London, where he says a fraud case that was meant to be starting this week has been delayed again until 2030. “It’s a real problem,” he says, “in [the fraud case], how will people be able to remember what this transaction is for, or that transaction is for, when it happened five years ago?”. 

Delays like this are practically “unheard of” in Liverpool, which he describes as the “gold standard” of court systems.

It’s surprising to hear Liverpool described in this way. I call Simon Christie, a barrister at Chavasse Court Chambers who has been working in the city for over 30 years. He agrees he’s “very lucky” to practice out of Liverpool, describing it as “streets ahead” of anywhere else.

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