Justice Minister Naomi Long yesterday introduced the Criminal Justice (Committal Reform) Bill, which will allow for serious cases to be transferred directly to the Crown Court without the need for a traditional committal hearing.

The bill, which also removes the use of oral evidence as part of the committal process, builds on the Justice Act (NI) 2015, which provided for the abolition of committal for murder and manslaughter cases.

In the long-term, the Department of Justice aims to abolish committal proceedings entirely for all Crown Court cases, as recommended by the Northern Ireland Audit Office in 2018.