England: Evidence disclosure in criminal trials a ‘complete mess’

Angela Rafferty QC, chairwoman of the Criminal Bar Association, told the Justice Committee that the situation was close to breaking point, The Brief reports.

Police and prosecutors are meant to hand over evidence that undermines the prosecution case or aids the defence, but in practice they have been routinely failing to do so.

Ms Rafferty told MPs: “From the criminal bar’s perspective the disclosure process is a complete mess, has been a mess for many years, and in fact it’s only the recent publicity around the very near-miss miscarriages of justice that has brought this to the public’s attention.”

She also told the committee there is too much reliance placed on barristers and judges to fix issues just as trials are about to begin.

“We consider that the situation, if it’s not remedied, is getting very close to cracking because it is a systemic problem which has been going on for a long, long time,” she said.