A grievous bodily harm case will come to trial almost five years after the alleged incident, a judge said today as she adjourned the matter due to lack of court time and disclosure issues.
It comes amid reports claiming that the Crown Court backlog – which stands at record levels – may have been overestimated due to errors in the Ministry of Justice’s data.
In a snapshot of some of the delayed cases coming before the court, 32-year-old Steely Thatcher appeared at Reading Crown Court (pictured above) to stand trial for inflicting grievous bodily harm upon Kerri Durkan in Reading on 31 October 2020. The defendant was told his case – which had been listed as a fixed floater – would need to be adjourned until 27 May next year due to a lack of court time and disclosure issues.
Joel Reynolds, prosecuting, told the court the case had to be adjourned ‘due to lack of capacity in the court centre’.
But Adam Williams, for Thatcher, said he had also recently discovered the existence of CCTV which was relevant to the case, despite police previously claiming there was none. He asked for a statement from the officer in the case to explain ‘how we have gone from saying, no CCTV, it does not exist, it is not there, to now saying it is there, we have to obtain it’.
A court clerk who called the listings office to find another slot for the five-day trial said the earliest available date was in September next year.
The 27 May date was secured after the prosecution and defence barristers agreed to ‘narrow’ the issues in the case so it could fit a four-day slot, although the May listing was also just a fixed floater, raising the prospect it may still not go ahead.
Judge Kirsty Real ordered the disclosure to be complete within seven days, but acknowledged it would be ‘ages’ before the actual trial in any event. ‘That is unfortunately the state of things, so I will re-list it on that date for a trial’, Judge Real told the court.
Addressing the defendant, the judge added: ‘Unfortunately, for various reasons it cannot go ahead today. That is a long time before the next trial listing. Fingers crossed, things will sort themselves out on the next occasion.’
Thatcher had first appeared before magistrates on 26 July last year.
