Police and Justice Bill

moved Amendment No. 140: Page 39, line 11, at end insert- ““( ) If the accused is in police custody in a police station, the court shall not give a live link direction under this section unless the accused has given his consent to the direction.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, in Committee, the Government inserted into the Bill new clauses on live links, with our support. We welcome the proposals to increase the capacity to use video links in criminal proceedings contained within Clauses 49 to 51, but we have some specific concerns about particular aspects of the proposals, which my amendment is designed to highlight. Amendment No. 140 would require a defendant to consent to attend preliminary court hearings by video link if she or he is in police custody in a police station. These matters were brought to my attention by Liberty, and I thank it for its briefing. Clause 49 would enable a court to require a person to attend preliminary court hearings via a video link from a police station. At present, a defendant can be required to attend preliminary hearings via video link, but only when he or she is held in custody in prison. Preliminary hearings that might take place while a person is held in a police station include applications for extending pre-charge detention, an initial bail hearing, consideration of a guilty plea and even sentencing hearings following the guilty plea. As a result of the clause, where the defendant pleads guilty, he or she could be dealt with from a police station without ever setting foot in court. The only point at which a defendant’s consent would be required for the case to be dealt with via a video link is at the sentencing stage. Until that point, the defendant has no choice about whether to attend the hearing in person. The physical appearance of defendants before the court can be an important safeguard against abuse. The defendant can come to court and in an environment away from the prison, complain to his or her legal representative or the court about any ill treatment that may have occurred. Appearance in court can also make it easier for the court to assess the state of the defendant. The scars of self-harm or abuse or behavioural traits pointing to a mental health problem may be much more evident when suspects appear in person than when they appear only via a television screen. The proposal that a person could plead guilty and be sentenced by the magistrates from police custody creates a risk that the person may be, by inducements or oppression, persuaded to admit the offence and plead guilty at the police station. It is thought that the procedural change could also disadvantage the defendant in initial bail applications and hearings for extending pre-charge detention. The fact that the person is in custody when the court is considering their case could create inertia against release on the part of the court. There is also a concern that the power to deal with all cases via a video link could persuade the police and CPS to charge a person and put them before the video link court rather than use alternative disposals such as cautions and restorative solutions. In the context of the other significant changes in the ability to use video links—that is, to give evidence at the trial and at the sentencing stage—the Government have accepted that safeguards are necessary. I shall not quote the Minister, but she did so very clearly at col. 677 of the Official Report on 11 July. None of these safeguards applies to the proposed new power to require a person to give evidence at a preliminary hearing from a police station. Due to the dangers highlighted above, the defendant’s consent is a safeguard which surely should be applied also to attendance at preliminary court hearings via video link from a police station. The amendment should not in any way remove the possible benefits of the pilot which the Government envisage, and we would certainly support that pilot. Indeed, we agree with the prediction that many defendants would like to get matters over and done with and not spend a night in police cells. That is common sense. In a high number of cases, we would therefore expect and hope that defendants would give their consent, with significant efficiency savings resulting from that. The Government have argued also that these proposals would benefit victims of crime, for whom they rightly comment that delays can be very distressing. We do not, however, consider that a victim of crime would be distressed by the kind of delays that might result from this amendment—a single night in a police cell until the defendant can appear before the next available court. It is in that spirit of trying to advance the argument a little further that I move the amendment. I beg to move.