Watchdog attacks incompetent court system as criminals go free because of 'red tape'

Bureaucratic bungling in the court system is allowing criminals to go free, a report has warned.

It found that incompetence and an obsession with paperwork among police, probation officers and court officials, lets criminals and suspects who go on the run to stay out of the reach of justice.

Suspects who flee abroad may go undetected, as there is no system for checking when someone who is wanted by the courts enters or leaves the country.

In the report, Eddie Bloomfield, the chief inspector of court administration, said: 'A lack of joined-up working within agencies and within criminal-justice areas persists and creates gaps that can enable offenders to escape justice.'

In some cases, probation officers have refused to tell police when suspects who haven't turned up at court get in contact, even when there is a warrant out for their arrest, he said.

They put 'client confidentiality' before the needs of justice.

At other times, offenders on a warrant are traced and found, but not arrested. They are told to go and give themselves up at a police station.

In three out of four police areas inspected, officers did not enforce warrants unless they had been given paper copies.

But paper copies are not legally required, the report said.

And in some police stations, custody sergeants refuse to accept runaways who are arrested unless they see a paper warrant. Again, paperwork should not be necessary.

Computers which do not work properly can mean that information distributed among police, court and probation offices has to be typed out again whenever it is sent.

This slows the process and leads to mistakes.

The report said there were 'many examples of over-bureaucracy'.

For instance, one rule that information held by the Department of Work and Pensions - which runs the benefits system - can be examined by court staff but not by police officers.

And officials regard warrants issued outside their own area as difficult - so push them to the back of the queue for attention.

'Once an offender or defendant moves into another area, the chances of successful execution of the warrant and resolution of a breach are much reduced.

'We would like to see a culture shift in all staff, departments and agencies that have a part to play in the enforcement process - each should recognise that they are part of a bigger process in which success depends on the interplay of all agencies.

'Whether variances in practice are deliberate or accidental, they are unhelpful because enforcement is a national issue and agencies have to work together across borders in a consistent way,' the report added.

Critics accused the Government of a continuing failure to deal with criminals.

Nick Herbert, Tory justice spokesman, said: 'While ministers have been moving the deckchairs around with departmental reorganisations, fundamental management problems remain with processes such as the execution of warrants that should be straightforward.

'It is disturbing that the independent inspectorates are once again criticising the failure of law enforcement agencies to work together and admitting that offenders are escaping justice.'

Liberal Democrat justice spokesman David Howarth said: 'This is ridiculous. These jobsworth attitudes must go - and the whole of the criminal justice system has to work together to reduce crime.'

The inspectors made their report after examining the way in which warrants issued for the arrest of missing offenders or suspects, are handled in London, Greater Manchester, Essex and North Yorkshire.