Yard chief: justice system is 'appalling'

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Anger mounts among police at injustice of courts system

Case study: 'I felt unprotected by the law - it was hell'

Britain's most senior police officer described the criminal justice system as appalling yesterday and said it treated victims with "utter contempt".

A call from Sir John Stevens to lock up more criminals and clamp down on bail applications came the day after David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, and Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice, appealed to magistrates and judges to jail fewer people.

Sir John, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said the courts system provided a shield for criminals and allowed the guilty to walk free. He argued that the system contributed to the current rise in violent crime.

He went on to say that criminals were, in effect, above the law, while judges, defence lawyers and court administrators rode roughshod over the rights of victims ­ as well as intimidating witnesses.

His forthright comments are part of the police's campaign to change the criminal justice system. It is also seen as a rebuke to Mr Blunkett, who has described detection rates in some forces as appalling. The legal profession hit back at Sir John, criticising his suggestion that trials had become "a game", and insisting that criminal convictions must be properly secured.

The highly emotive language used by Sir John, at a speech at Leicester University, reflects the growing frustration among police chiefs who believe they are fighting an unfair battle. It also comes when street and violent crimes are rising rapidly in most big cities.

Civil rights groups believe it is part of a cynical attempt by the police to change the law in their favour when the Home Office is preparing to publish a White Paper on reforms to the criminal justice system.

Sir John argued: "The fact is that, all too often, the criminal trial is simply an uneven game of tactics played out by lawyers in front of an uninformed jury with the disillusioned victims and a bemused defendant looking on.

"The public are more than disenchanted with criminal justice in this country ­ they are fed up with it. The process actually encourages criminals in the belief that crime is merely a game of no consequence to society, local communities or their victims so they are not held to account. So, we see robbers with strings of previous convictions, strutting across the estates of inner London, having won their most recent game in court ­ arrogant, untouchable, fearless and ready for anything.

"It is not uncommon to have muggers released on bail eight or nine times before they face trial for their first attack."

Sir John said that at one Crown Court, out of 140 people summoned as witnesses in a two-week period, only 19 were called to give evidence. A survey in Manchester found that 83 per cent of witnesses who had appeared in court wanted nothing more to do with the criminal justice system, he said.

Sir John said: "People are more terrified of the prospect of attending court than they are fearful of being subjected to further crime. That is an appalling situation and one which cannot be allowed to continue."

A gun gang walked free because the judge would not allow a witness to give evidence from behind a screen, he said. In another case, the mother of a murdered child was forced to sit in court within feet of the man who admitted killing her son. Sir John said: "We let the very people for whom the whole system of criminal justice owes its existence, and upon whom it relies, to get treated with what most people would regard as utter contempt."

The Commissioner added that gangs of young offenders preying on fellow school pupils and total strangers were becoming an increasing worry because of the breakdown of the justice system. "The level of violence we are witnessing by robbers intent on stealing is quite unprecedented. In just the past few months, a young girl was shot in the head in a suburban street in mid-afternoon for her mobile phone; an estate agent was fatally stabbed in front of his fiancée for his car; and a family were shot at and one of them killed for a Rolex watch."

A spokesman for the Bar Council, which represents barristers, said: "A civilised society demands criminal convictions be secured beyond reasonable doubt. That is not a 'game', it is a fundamental principle."

A spokesman for the Law Society, which represents solicitors, added: "The criminal trial is not a 'game' as described by Sir John Stevens, it is a fundamental right of a modern society."