Murderers will escape justice without new laws to end 'secret witness' ban, Straw warns MPs

Terrorists, murderers and other violent criminals will escape justice unless emergency laws are passed within weeks, MPs have been warned.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw told the Commons that legislation was 'literally being drafted as I speak' to ensure witnesses in some trials can still give evidence in secret.

It will be put before Parliament next week, debated the following week and rushed through before the summer recess next month.

The hurried move comes after a Law Lords ruling effectively banning anonymous witnesses led to the collapse of an Old Bailey murder trial and triggered fears that hundreds of other cases would have to be abandoned.

'Anonymous evidence is these days fundamental to the successful prosecution of a significant number of cases, some of which involve murder, blackmail, violent disorder and terrorism,' Mr Straw said in a statement to MPs.

'Such cases could be jeopardised if we do not quickly fill the gap created by their Lordships' judgment. We appreciate the danger that trials will collapse.

'No one wants to see a situation where violent criminals evade justice because of a hiatus in the law.'

Mr Straw also said he would make sure that criminals already convicted in trials where anonymous witnesses were used will not be able to appeal.

Ministers are using the system which currently operates in New Zealand as a model.

Mr Straw said the basis of UK law will be that judges are satisfied by the need for  witness anonymity on a case-by-case basis, whilst ensuring that a fair trial is still possible.

Under the Lords' ruling, the prosecution case cannot rely entirely, or largely, on anonymous witnesses.

The Tories agreed to be 'constructive' over the proposed Bill's passage but warned that the history of emergency legislation was 'not a happy one'.

Mr Straw said that witness intimidation had long been a feature of criminal trials but in recent years it had become 'an all too common feature in crimes of a serious nature, especially those involving guns, gangs or drugs'.

Such is the fear in some areas that entire communities may be reluctant to give evidence, he said.

But Mr Straw insisted: 'However valuable anonymous evidence can be, it cannot be justified if its use undermines justice.'

Nick Herbert, the shadow justice secretary, cautioned that the 'use of anonymous witnesses in criminal trials should always be a last resort not a first response'.