Fraud (Trials without a Jury) Bill

The hon. Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve) was not convincing in his efforts to tempt me down the road of accepting new clause 15. He pointed out that he did not really think that it was the right thing to do, that he did not really agree with it fully, and that he was not sure what on earth the panel would do with the judge if they got together. He has therefore made my job of dealing with it rather easy. New clause 15 would give rise to a number of difficulties. The role of the expert members is uncertain, and there is a risk that their private views about the expert evidence that had appeared before the court would find their way into private discussions with the judge and influence matters in a way that the defence or prosecution might not have had an opportunity to comment on. It is also unclear whether suitable members could be found, how they would be paid, and so on. However, the hon. Gentleman was good enough to say that although he has tabled the new clause, it is not really the way that he wants to approach matters. He wants a special panel that sits separately from the judge. Our view throughout has been that a key issue is the need to manage such trials in a way that enables a judge to prevent procrastination by defence lawyers. That issue emerged from the report on discussions with the jurors in the Jubilee line case, who were concerned about defence procrastination. Moreover, there is the question of the ability to let lawyers know during the course of proceedings that the judge did understand the nature of the documentation before him, and of the ability to ensure that the case proceeds with much more care and skill and reaches an appropriate and just verdict. In our view, that means that in certain cases, particularly very lengthy and complex ones, there need not always be a jury, and that there would be many cases—at least half a dozen a year—that would benefit from a judge-only trial.